


Walk Me Home

by nutshikas



Series: Tales from Konoha Korner [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grocery Store, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Anxiety, Background Relationships, Breaking Up & Making Up, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Dates, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, How Do I Tag, I do not know what I'm doing anymore, I wish I was kidding, I'm Bad At Summaries, Idiots in Love, M/M, Murder Trial, OKAY LISTEN, Pining, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, There's Gonna be More Angst Than I Thought, What Was I Thinking?, i have literally no plan, it's gonna get weird, naruto is a mechanic, okay so maybe there's angst actually, please help, sasuke smokes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2019-10-11 19:06:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17452667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nutshikas/pseuds/nutshikas
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke just wants to get through college and move far away from his brother and his obnoxious friends. But what happens when a certain blonde knucklehead turns his world upside down?





	1. Chapter 1

Sasuke was completely lost. After two full nine hour days of computer training, he thought he’d have everything he needed to get started. It’s only natural to assume so, right? The Uchiha certainly thought so, but ultimately ended up being incredibly wrong. The second the nice woman from personnel kicked him out of her office and told him to hit the floor, Sasuke knew he was utterly and completely fucked. He stood for a solid three minutes staring owlishly around at the bright green online pickup room that sat on the other side of the backroom. He glanced longingly behind him at the double doors labeled “Employees Only.” The only area of the store he’d become intimately acquainted with over the past couple days was now taunting him, challenging him to turn tail and run and retreat back to personnel. He wanted badly to beg the nice blonde woman who’d joked with him and treated him so kindly over the past couple of days to allow him to stay in the back forever. He could do it, he knew how to file! That’s all he needed to know, right?

The khakis he wore suddenly felt too tight and itchy, contrasting a little too much with his Docs. His throat, suddenly dry and scratchy, made it a little too difficult to breathe. He wanted so badly to unbutton the collar of his ugly dark green uniform shirt. He reached to pull his juul from his back pocket but remembered he’d been forced to leave it in his locker in the backroom. _Another reason to go back there._ Before he could silently panic any further, the Uchiha felt a heavy hand settle onto his shoulder. Panic replaced itself with quiet indignation and he jerked his shoulder away, angrily knocking the hand off.

“Whoa man chill out I’m sorry,” a rather bored sounding voice grumbled. Sasuke raised a brow before turning and coming face to face with-

“Nara?” Sasuke asked incredulously. The taller black haired man rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Yeah, it’s me. Samui told us you were on your way up, but when you didn’t show they sent me to get you.” Shikamaru looked less than ecstatic at the imposition and Sasuke felt agitation start to twist and turn in his gut with his anxiety. Nara, the asshole, rubbed the back of his neck and yawned, mumbling to himself about needing a smoke.

“It’s not like I don’t know where I’m going,” he muttered, although he and Shikamaru both knew damn well he never would have made it to the front end on his own.

“Whatever you say man, it’s not like I care. Let’s just get you up to the front and trained, Ebisu’s on my ass and I am not about to deal with his bitching again.” The two made their way slowly to the front, Sasuke because he really didn’t know where he was supposed to go and Shikamaru most likely because he didn’t want to get back to the front anytime soon. “You’re gonna be shadowing with Hinata for today, she’ll explain everything to you once you get up there. You get off at ten tonight right?” Sasuke nodded numbly, his cool exterior finally slipping back into place as his anxiety ebbed. “Alright cool. The managers on duty are me, Ebisu and Neji, you’ll meet them eventually I guess.”

Sasuke saw the long row of registers marking the beginning of the front end come into view as they finally rounded a corner past apparel. Only two registers were open and there was a girl with orange hair that seemed to defy gravity standing by a register set up by an area of self checkout registers. Shikamaru led his raven haired coworker up an empty aisle and stopped in front of a register with a lit number 5 looming above it. A huge display of cigarettes stood behind the girl at the register with every brand he had heard of and a few that were foreign to him, and Sasuke once again found his anxiety bubbling up to the surface.

The cashier was finishing up a transaction with a tall man, much taller than Sasuke, with long snow white hair and odd red markings along the side of his face. Whatever the man said caused the cashier to giggle before she handed him his change and receipt and bid him a good day.

“Hinata my sweet, you’re always so good to me. I’ll take you away from all of this one day, just you wait and see!” the man cooed. The girl at the counter, Hinata, giggled a bit but ignored him, and Shikamaru rolled his eyes a bit and sighed.

“Jiraiya, seriously man, you gotta stop hitting on my cashiers, she’s like half your age,” Shikamaru called. Jiraiya laughed boisterously before taking his leave, rambling incoherently about the girl's beauty as he went, and Hinata laughed again.

“Thank you for your help Shikamaru, I appreciate it,” Hinata beamed at the black haired boy. Shikamaru grumbled a bit under his breath again and Sasuke noticed the tips of his ears turn pink before he jerked his head in his direction.

“This is Sasuke. He’s new. Show him the ropes.” After that less than stellar introduction, Shikamaru yawned and left without another word to the Uchiha. Sasuke timidly stepped behind the gate at the edge of the register and took in the faint smell of cardboard and tobacco, a scent he’d grown used to at the convenience store where he’d previously worked. It was comforting in a way, gave him a sense of familiarity. _I really want my fucking juul._

Hinata smiled at Sasuke a bit and held her hand out to him, a friendly gesture that just made the other’s stomach turn. He awkwardly took her hand and shook it, stiff and incredibly uncomfortable. “I’m Hinata Hyuga, it’s a pleasure to meet you Sasuke-kun.” The smaller girl beamed up at him before turning back to the register. “Let’s get started!”

______________________________________

Today really was not Naruto’s day. He’d already been bitched at by Granny Tsunade herself after he’d _accidentally_ (it really _was_ an accident, he’d die on this hill) tracked grease through the store. It wasn’t his fault the closing crew hadn’t cleaned the garage before they left! The blonde had been banished to the auto center’s register as punishment, and he continued to pout all the way through lunch and into the remaining few hours of his shift. He’d already been bitched at by three people who didn’t appreciate the fact that the price of an oil change had increased by about ten bucks. Each person insisted he only charge them for the previous lower price and each person ended up cursing him out and requesting a manager once he refused to do so. Naruto really hated disappointing customers, he prided himself on his excellent customer service and (dare he say it) dashing smile, but sometimes charm just wasn’t enough and unfortunately the blonde just didn’t have it today.

Kiba came in from the shop cradling his arm, a pained look on his face. “Hey man, you okay?” Naruto asked, moving from behind the counter to his friend. He tried to spot what exactly had hurt Kiba, but the Inuzuka was doing a good job of hiding it. This was the norm but Naruto couldn’t help the sinking feeling in his stomach. He and Kiba would oftentimes get hurt in the shop, it simply came with the territory, but everytime it happened one would try to cover it up as the other fussed and worried over them.

“I’m cool man, just a burn, it’s whatever,” Kiba mumbled, but the pained expression on his face continued to worry the younger blonde. “Could you grab the burn cream?”

Naruto ushered Kiba over to the bench usually reserved for customers waiting on their cars, but the only customer they had at the moment was busy shopping and waiting for their page. After making sure Kiba was seated and wasn’t going to get back up, the blonde hurried back behind the counter and grabbed the first aid kit before seating himself beside Kiba. “What should we do about the car? You can’t go back out there.” Naruto went back behind the counter to a small fridge, pulling a water bottle out and grabbing a clean rag from a small box on the floor. He returned to Kiba’s side once again and soaked the rag as well as he could before setting it gently on the brunette’s arm.

“Well, can’t you? We have to finish it up before we close,” Kiba gritted his teeth and hissed at the sting of the cold rag. Naruto sighed and shrugged.

“Granny got pissed at me for the grease in toys and banned me for the day.” The blonde snickered softly and after a couple more seconds removed the cool rag from his friend’s now bright red arm. He sucked in air and hissed softly in a show of sympathy, tearing open and subsequently rubbing the contents of the burn cream package gently over a newly formed blister. After wrapping his arm loosely in some gauze, Naruto clamped the first aid kit shut and sighed.

“I guess I can finish the car up, go let Asuma know what happened and keep Tsunade away from me.” Naruto flashed the Inuzuka a grin before patting his burn good-naturedly. The resulting hiss from his friend made him flinch and laugh before he retreated back into the garage to finish up with their last client.

About an hour later, Naruto had finished up with their last client’s car, rung them up, and cleaned the garage from top to bottom. Kiba reappeared from the back room, cradling his arm and pouting a little as he walked. The blonde shut the lights off in both the garage and the register area before grinning at the Inuzuka. “How’d it go?”

“Well it was my third incident this month so now _I’m_ the one who’s banned from working in the garage,” Kiba grumbled.

Naruto laughed, hearty and long. Tears formed in his bright blue eyes and he almost didn’t catch the deepening frown on his friend’s face. “I’m sorry man, it’s just… so fucking funny. What are they gonna do when I inevitably get hurt again?”

“Maybe they’ll fire us and replace us with actual competent mechanics.” Kiba snickered before grabbing his jacket, and the two walked back into the back room together. After they clocked out they went to their respective lockers in the locker room in the far corner of the back. Naruto had already retrieved his own jacket and wallet when he heard Kiba curse softly from the other side of the room.

“What’s up man?” the blue eyed man questioned, setting his hand on Kiba’s right shoulder and leaning over to rest his chin on the left. Kiba didn’t even flinch, just glared at the blonde before going back to searching through the small square locker he’d been assigned when he was hired.

“I can’t find my fucking smokes. Ugh, this is ridiculous. I guess I have to go buy more unless Kankuro took them.”

“Doesn’t Kankuro smoke another brand? Maybe it’s time to quit,” Naruto prodded him in the back with the hand he’d had on his friend’s shoulder. “The universe is saying ‘save your health Kiba, you smell like shit and Naruto can’t stand to be near you,’” he joked.

Kiba chuckled and elbowed his friend playfully, causing an overly dramatic fall from Naruto. “I’ve been so wounded! My crime? Caring for my friend’s health!” As Naruto playfully sobbed, Kiba rolled his eyes and adjusted the laces on his boots before grabbing his wallet and keys and shutting his locker.

“Let’s just go get more before I actually kick your ass.” Kiba left the room, leaving Naruto on the floor still pretending to heave and sob. When he noticed the brunette was gone, he sprinted after him.

Naruto didn’t fully catch up to Kiba until he was halfway through apparel and proceeded to play up his exhaustion, throwing his arm back over Kiba and weighing him down. “Hey Kiba c’mon, why do you have to be so mean to me! You left me all alone, cold and dying!” he complained. He caught the corners of the brunette’s mouth turning up slightly at the comment and grinned widely. The day was shaping up to be better than he originally thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! This is the first work I've ever published and it's been awhile since I've written, so hopefully this chapter was a good warm-up!


	2. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes meet and it goes about as well as you'd expect

Working the register wasn’t too difficult after all. For the first hour of his time on the floor, Hinata showed Sasuke the different ways a transaction could be rung out, what key shortcuts worked the best in what situation, and how to properly process gift card transactions (he’d been the most nervous about that.) After awhile, Hinata switched places with Sasuke and made him work the register for himself. The lilac-eyed girl watched from the side, loading full grocery bags into customers’ carts so she was able to stay busy and giving the Uchiha helpful tips and hints about the best way to bag an item. Keep frozen items together, ask before putting anything on top of the eggs, make sure only the lightest items are put on the eggs if someone agrees, use a larger bag for cereals and ramen. After about an hour and a half, Sasuke had a fairly good idea of what the basics of cashiering. The only thing he really needed to tackle were the various food codes and where to find them.

When he’d first gotten started shadowing Hinata, he noticed she hadn’t spared a single glance at the guidebook. Of course, the long haired girl revealed she’d been working for the store for two years so it was only natural she knew everything. That didn’t mean Sasuke didn’t notice the pang of embarrassment he felt when he had to look through the book for a certain code, couldn’t find it, and was gently reminded of it by the soft spoken girl. He’d have to figure out how to memorize them quick. Every chance he got he would look at the book, trying his hardest to burn each item into his memory. Hinata had laughed and joked with him about the first code everyone remembers being bananas, 4011. Sasuke smiled back and nodded, confirming verbally he knew it before he’d finished training (he’d never admit to anyone but himself the first code he’d actually learned was the one for roma tomatoes). 

Learning where the cigarettes were placed was also rather difficult, but he supposed it was a good training opportunity and would help him get acquainted with doing more than one thing at a time. It was just hard to tell the difference between some of the brands, especially with so many variations of Marlboro floating around.

A little later into his shift, at about eight thirty, two _very_ dirty looking men got in line behind the older woman he was helping. The two reeked of motor oil and sweat, dressed in identical baggy olive jumpsuits and heavy black work boots. Sasuke found himself nervously glancing at the men who were now roughhousing in the aisle, the taller blonde capturing his brunette friend in a headlock and giving him a really painful looking noogie, simultaneously spreading the grease and oil into his hair. The Uchiha involuntarily cringed as he handed the woman her change and almost dropped a quarter on the floor in front of her. The action did not go unnoticed and as she left the woman shot a Look at the two men who continued to roughhouse, completely ignorant of the wary stares they were receiving. 

Hinata immediately perked up once she noticed the two men approach the register. “Kiba, Naruto, hi! Did you just get off?” Did those two slobs _actually_ work there? Sasuke glanced between the three a little 

“Yeah, we had to close up a little early. I got burned and we didn’t have too many customers today,” the brunette responded, grinning so wide the fang shaped tattoos on his cheeks stretched a little. Hinata’s eyes suddenly hardened and she stepped out from behind the register before grabbing one of the sleeves of his jumpsuit and forcibly rolling it up to his elbow. When she found nothing after _thoroughly_ inspecting that arm, she repeated the same process with the other. A soft squeak escaped her when she noticed the gauze covering almost his entire arm.

“Inuzuka Kiba I told you to be more careful!” the smaller girl exclaimed. Her voice had jumped at least a full octave and genuine worry marred her previously docile expression. “I’ve told you time and again and this is what you go and do? I swear, you’re just as bad as Naruto…”

“Hey, I’m right here!” Sasuke cringed at the sheer volume of the previously silent blonde’s exclamation. He was itching for his juul again, or at least _something_ to get his mind off this annoying ass guy. “It’s not like I get hurt all that often, Kiba’s the one always tripping around everywhere, c’mon Hinata!” The blonde, Naruto, turned to look back at Sasuke and beamed at him as if he hadn’t just been knocking merchandise off the shelves. _He’s not the one who has to clean that shit up_. Sasuke would almost be willing to admit the guy was cute if he wasn’t covered in grease and obnoxious as all hell.

“You new?” The question seemed to come from nowhere and Sasuke jolted a little, surprised at his lack of recognition and awareness. He blinked at Naruto but didn’t respond, looking the (only slightly) taller blonde up and down with a mixture of disgust and confusion. A bright, beaming smile that could rival the sun slowly fell into a disconcerted frown and the blonde across from him squinted as he tried to focus in, bending carefully over the register to get as close as possible to the raven-haired man without crossing the barrier of the bag carousel. “Hey, uh… you okay? Are you like… stupid or somethin’?”

“Naruto, you can’t say that!” Hinata scolded. Sasuke clenched and unclenched his fists in an attempt to keep himself from vaulting over the counter and throttling the blue eyed menace. The only indication of a reaction was the brief flaring of his nostrils before he slipped back into his normal cool, only slightly bitchy resting face.

“Hn. Just didn’t feel like talking to someone so obviously beneath me.” …Well, that was definitely a response. Sasuke could’ve kicked himself, it was his first day for christ’s sake! He couldn’t afford to lose this shitty job so soon.

Naruto blinked once, then twice, then a third time before exploding into a spluttering mess of rage. It was almost comical to see the blonde turn bright red, it was almost like he’d built up so much pressure he could blow at any minute, much like a tea kettle warming on the stove. “You _what_?! Where in the hell do you get off sayin’ shit like that to me?!” Naruto screeched. Even Kiba and Hinata cringed a little at the volume of his sudden outburst.

“Sorry, could you not hear me? I guess you’re just… stupid or something.” Kiba stifled a snicker at Sasuke’s comment and disguised it as a cough, earning himself a _very_ pointed glare from Naruto.

“What are you laughing at, dog breath?” he snapped. Kiba immediately straightened and narrowed his eyes at Naruto.

“The fuck did you just say?”

“You heard me!”

“Maybe I didn’t! Speak up a little, I don’t think they could hear you on the other side of town!”

“Why you-!” Naruto and Kiba butted heads, growling and pushing against the other’s forehead, neither man refusing to give in to the force of someone else’s skull smashing against their own. It was both disturbing and intriguing to watch, although Sasuke could feel that anxious itch for his juul rising back as the obvious tension between the two men in front of him seemed to thicken.

Just before Sasuke started taking bets on who of the two would start a fight again Ebisu, who had somehow in a manner of minutes managed to prove to Sasuke he was _absolutely insufferable_ , passed by the register and shot a pointed look at them. The two (thankfully) immediately straightened back up. Kiba coughed a little uncomfortably before approaching the register once again. Sasuke didn’t bring up the fact he shoved more than nudged Naruto out of the way. Kiba squared his shoulders at Sasuke and stared him down, sizing the similarly built Uchiha up before sniffing a little and turning his attention to the wall of cigarettes behind him. Sasuke wasn’t completely sure what was happening, but he matched the Inuzuka’s weirdly tangible energy the best he could. Just like that, the weird tension in the air dissolved and Kiba grinned at him from across the way. “Two packs of Marlboro Midnights please!” Sasuke nodded and turned to grab the cigarettes, pointedly ignoring the insults Naruto quietly threw his way.

______________________________________

What the hell was that guy’s problem anyway? As soon as he and Kiba had gotten in line, Naruto could practically _feel_ the weirdly hateful energy emanating from the register. It had confused the blonde at first, Hinata was usually the person to man 5, but then he looked up and met the gaze of the (strangely attractive) new cashier. He didn’t even really notice the fact he was staring them down with a look of absolute horror and disgust until Hinata started fussing over Kiba’s burn. After Kiba got his cigarettes, Naruto could still feel the hate-filled gaze of the raven-haired (and kind of attractive) man burning holes into his back. It wasn’t until they had made it safely to Kiba’s car that Naruto chose to speak.

“So… that guy was pretty cute, huh?” Kiba spluttered and spun on Naruto in a flash.

“Tell me you did not just say that,” the Inuzuka demanded. Naruto laughed weakly and scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit he’d picked up from all the time he’d spent with Shikamaru.

“And… if I did…?”

Kiba’s expression went from surprised to worried to completely unimpressed in a matter of seconds. “You are the fucking worst when it comes to flirting, I swear.” Naruto laughed again and grinned. Kiba, still completely unimpressed, quirked a brow and sighed. “Dude, you showed your entire ass back there. You’ll be lucky if he _ever_ reciprocates.” The blonde cringed a little, this time moving to open the door of the car rather than trying to retort. Unfortunately for him, Kiba hadn’t unlocked his side yet and watched him struggle with the door for a solid two minutes before finally pressing the unlock button on his key fob.

Naruto let out a soft sigh of relief and climbed into the car before gagging a bit at the strong smell of cigarette smoke. “Seriously dude, you need to quit smoking. I smell like shit anytime I get in your car.” Kiba snorted and rolled his eyes.

“My car my rules, Uzumaki. Hold your breath if it’s so bad, not like I could smell it over your nasty ass,” the Inuzuka shot back with a smirk. Naruto nudged him playfully with his elbow before settling back into his seat and securing his seatbelt. Kiba once again rolled his eyes before doing the same, smiling regardless.

The ride home was fairly quiet save for the sound of some sappy mixtape he’d made for Kankuro (who even did that anymore?) when they first met. God help whoever had introduced Kiba to that song, it was probably the worst thing he’d ever heard in his entire life. Naruto squirmed in his seat. He wanted to change the song to something more upbeat, maybe Lady Gaga or 2006 Taylor Swift. Naruto giggled at the thought of a scandalized Kiba watching Naruto sing Picture to Burn at the top of his lungs. He’d probably kick him out of the car, the Inuzuka had done it before.

One of the last tracks started up, some All Time Low song about having no weight or floating or something. Naruto sighed heavily and stared out the car window. “…Hey Kiba, do you really think that guy would never like me?” he eventually asked. Kiba glanced at him before turning the radio down a bit to better hear his friend, mulling the question over a bit.

“Who knows dude. I mean, think about it. You called him stupid before you even knew his name. Would _you_ ever like someone like that? Especially if some random asshole said it to you on your first day?” Well when he put it like _that_ … Naruto sighed again, more dramatic this time. He supposed Kiba was right. He was probably freaked out enough by the idea of a new job, especially working on the front end dealing with literally every person who came through the store. Naruto knew how deeply customers could affect him personally. He winced a bit when he remembered one particular old woman who’d told him exactly where he could stick his dip stick. After careful consideration of his actions, Naruto came to the (rather obvious) conclusion that if he wanted to win the cute new cashier’s heart, or at the very least friendship, he’d probably have to shape up, suck it up, and try to get along with him. _Try_ being the key word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! The next couple of chapters will focus on a single pov rather than changing near the end to show both character's perspectives, but will most likely go back to normal after those. I appreciate the support I've gotten so far and will update whenever I can!


	3. Naruto's Struggle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto tries to process his new feelings. It does not go well.

A couple weeks was long enough to give the new guy some space, right? Naruto had decided he’d wait at _least_ three weeks before he tried to approach the broody raven-haired man again, partially so he could adjust better to the job without distraction and partially because he was kind of… scared? Maybe nervous was a better word. He really didn’t wanna make the guy uncomfortable after such a dramatic introduction and also wanted to make sure he’d stick around. The turnover rate for their store was pretty high, but if someone stayed more than a month or so it was a pretty good assumption they were in it for the long run. That didn’t mean Naruto wasn’t collecting information from afar in the meantime. He wasn’t doing anything like stalking the guy and staring at him, that’d be pretty fucking weird, but Hinata had befriended him pretty quickly and was already sharing stories about “Sasuke told a customer this today” and “this girl went through Sasuke’s line twice today just to ask him out” and “Sasuke told me this really funny thing about Shikamaru.”

Sasuke. That was the guy’s name. Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto couldn’t exactly put his finger on it, but he was pretty sure he’d heard the name Uchiha somewhere before. When he first found out he mulled it over for all of two seconds before deciding he didn’t really care. Naruto finally had a name for the face and his name was as cute as his stupid face, the bastard. Unfortunately, Naruto always seemed a little _too_ keen on hearing about Sasuke (he really needed to work on a better poker face dammit), so Hinata figured him out pretty quick. Because she was a true friend and brother, she never said a thing about it and he found she was telling him stories about the broody new cashier who attracted _a lot_ of attention from their regular customers with more frequency. Everyone loved him. Even the old guy who yelled at Naruto that one time because he accidentally rolled a new tire over his foot (he really shouldn’t have been in the aisle anyway) loved Sasuke. It was weirdly disconcerting knowing he was such a popular guy but also made him a little, for lack of a better term, jealous. When he found out Sasuke had the attention of literally every person who came into the store, he felt the uncontrollable urge to assert himself and say “hey, that’s _my_ Uchiha!”

He knew his friends were getting a little sick of his lovesick ways, especially since he’d been forcing Kiba to only play “Whiskey Lullaby” while he sulked. He was usually cool with it for the first day, but they were going on day eight with no end in sight and he’d noticed the Inuzuka reaching for his headphones before he’d even started up the car. Sakura and Ino weren’t having it either. Everytime he went to the pharmacy counter now, Sakura would conveniently have disappeared to find a prescription no-one needed and Karin would be stuck at the front counter instead, listening with limited interest to her cousin’s woes. Shikamaru had already told Naruto not to bother. Sasuke was a cold guy, he said, he’d never spoken to anyone in their honors courses unless it was to call them some form of the word moron, which was apparently pretty frequent from the way the lazier man spoke. Really though, it’s not like Naruto could _help_ it! He was a slave to his emotions, a man of passion!

Kiba was getting so sick of Naruto he was actively trying to push him in Sasuke’s direction. He’d find any excuse he could to get him to try and _talk_ to the guy, but Naruto resisted every time. If Sasuke was on 5, Kiba would choose that moment to try to make Naruto go get him some smokes. Naruto would point out that as employees they weren’t allowed to buy each other something that required photo identification (of course he’d choose to remember that policy when he most needed it) and Kiba would squint at him before banishing him from the garage and making him work the auto center’s register. At one point, Sasuke was working the self check-out podium and Kiba intentionally took him through self-check with a case of beer so Sasuke would have to come over and ID both of them. Naruto had turned into a blubbering mess and threw his ID at Kiba before sprinting off, claiming he had to piss right that second. Sure it was probably more embarrassing to do that, but what was he supposed to do? The guy was so cool all the fucking time! In the meantime his roommate was more than sick of his shenanigans. Any subtly the Inuzuka had tried to employ was quickly forgotten in favor of trying to throw Naruto down the aisles. Sometimes he’d act like he forgot Sasuke was working that day and managed to corral him into a line, only to have the blonde turn bright red at the sight of him, make some kind of excuse about forgetting his jacket (even though he was fucking wearing it) in the locker room and sprinting away before Kiba could get his hands on him. The blonde knew he was being annoying, but _really_ what did he expect?! It was one thing to actively pine for some guy he’d spoken to one time, it was another to actually _speak_ to him! Naruto kinda wished he’d quit just so he wouldn’t feel nervous whenever he approached the front end.

The time did come when Naruto couldn’t avoid the onyx-eyed man forever. Really, he should have known something was up when Kiba said he wanted to go home and change before they went shopping. It was their monthly “grocery day,” so Shino, Kiba, Naruto and Hinata all got ready to get a months’ worth of groceries together. Shino and Hinata had worked their earlier day shifts and were already home while Kiba and Naruto had been the closers for the garage so they got off at eight. Usually if someone worked a later shift, those who were already home would just drive back and meet them. There was only about a five minute drive between the store and their shared house anyway and they almost always had so many groceries they had to take two cars. Kiba had decided to tell his roommates the four of them would just take Hinata’s huge ass pickup and all go together after Kiba washed off the “dirt and grime” for the day (seriously who fucking says that in a group chat?). Usually Kiba didn’t care how dirty he was when all they were doing was _grocery shopping_ so it struck him as odd, but he remembered Kankuro was closing so maybe he had a date or something. That explanation was enough for the blonde.

They didn’t end up leaving the house until around ten thirty which struck Naruto as really odd, usually they were done _shopping_ by ten, but really Kiba had taken a long time in the shower. Like an hour. It was also really weird to Naruto that his best friend and Hinata were up front together whispering softly back and forth, occasionally throwing the blue-eyed man a knowing glance before turning back around to whisper some more. Naruto chose to ignore it in favor of staring out the window.

As soon as he and his roommates were finished shopping and ready to check out, Naruto realized what they’d done. There was only one register open, register 5, and Sasuke was definitely on it. Sure self-checkout was an option, but what kind of asshole uses it for two basketfuls of groceries? Naruto watched in horror as his roommates casually unloaded the baskets, joking and talking with the Uchiha man. After they finished unloaded the carts, Hinata gasped a bit too dramatically for it to be a coincidence and claimed she’d forgotten to grab face wipes. Kiba announced he was going with her so he could see Kankuro, and somewhere in the middle of all of this talk Shino had completely disappeared. That left Naruto and Sasuke. Alone. Staring at each other. Well, not really. Naruto was trying to busy himself with loading the groceries back into their baskets and Sasuke, nonchalant bastard he was, kept right along scanning their groceries as if the blonde’s roommates hadn’t just abandoned him. _Some friends they are_.

While he was busy moping, Sasuke didn’t even seem to notice or care about the fact he was even there! The least the guy could do was say something! It’s not like Naruto had the plague or whatever, so what was the big deal? _It’s not like you’re trying to talk to him_. Naruto took pause at that thought. Inner him was right, he wasn’t trying to interact with Sasuke at all! In fact, he hadn’t even looked at him since getting in line, it was probably putting the guy off, who wants to talk to some asshole who won’t even make eye contact with you? Naruto took a deep breath and steeled himself before turning to face the black haired man before him. It was now or never.

But what was he supposed to say?! He knew literally nothing about him except that all their customers fucking loved him and he did _not_ wanna let the guy know he’d secretly been pulling information from Hinata. It needed to be something good, something flirty, something that would completely erase everything he’d said to him previously but _what did he say_? Naruto quickly scanned the dark eyed man. he didn’t seem to realize his blonde counterpart was actively withering away in front of him trying to figure out something to say to him. He wasn’t wearing anything special, everyone in the store was required to wear khakis or black jeans and a green shirt so it’s not like he could compliment his fashion sense. His eyes were pretty but was that too much to say now? How would he even approach that? Naruto definitely thought his hair was cute, kinda weirdly shaped with the way it stuck up in the back but still pretty nice. It looked like he showered regularly at least (not that Naruto could say much about that with his current bathing schedule). Okay but seriously, what was up with his hair? It defied gravity, it didn’t even look like he gelled it but maybe he was using some sort of space gel that only the astronauts used and he’d somehow gotten his hands on it. Naruto really wanted to ask about it, it seemed like such a weird choice? Did he just sleep on it weird, is that how it happened? Was it just cut super short? It was so odd to look at, if he could just-

“So, uh… do you style your hair that way or does it just look like that?” It slipped out before he had time to think about the true implications or consequences of his actions. Sasuke stopped what he was doing and eyed the blue eyed dumbass warily.

“I’m sorry, what?” Well, he’d better commit now!

“Your hair. It’s like.. weird shaped. Looks like…,” Naruto struggled to find the right words before grinning, “a duck’s ass! Your hair looks exactly like a duck’s ass! how do you do that?” Sasuke blinked once, twice, then three times before ignoring him and going back to ringing items up. “Hey, don’t ignore me! C’mon man, what’s your secret? You got some weird alien shit that makes it stand up like that? Is that the source of your powers?”

A soft chuckle stopped Naruto’s heart. He watched, wide-eyed, as the raven-haired man across from him laughed quietly to himself and shook his head, the tiniest lopsided smirk he’d ever seen appearing briefly before the Uchiha’s normal nonchalant expression returned in full force. Sasuke coughed softly to try to compose himself and keep from laughing anymore but the damage had already been done. Uzumaki Naruto was as good as dead and Uchiha Sasuke was the cause. He was officially deceased, found dead in a ditch three weeks after he’d been brutally slain by the shorter man. His tombstone would read “Here Lies Uzumaki Naruto, Murdered by an Angel’s Voice.”

Kiba and Hinata chose that exact moment to reappear and Shino probably rose from within the fucking foundation of the store or something, he never had a clue where the guy was lurking around. Apparently Naruto must have  _completely_ checked out because Sasuke was just finishing up with the groceries. It was all so weirdly played out, it couldn’t have been a coincidence. Hinata immediately started talking to Sasuke and whatever weird energy surrounding Naruto seemed to dissolve. He watched their friendly conversation, absolutely confounded, as it dawned on him what exactly his friends had done to him. As Kiba and Shino wheeled their baskets away, Hinata gently grasped Naruto’s arm and started to lead him off. He glanced behind him at the cashier standing back behind the counter. His back was to him now, but just before the blonde turned away he spotted the small smile on the Uchiha’s face as he began stocking cigarettes. _Fuck_ , he really was doomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I just started the new semester and an internship so I may be updating a bit sporadically. I am determined to keep this work going though!


	4. Tentative Friendships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke's just trying to get through his shifts. Naruto has other plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary is bad, I'm bad at summaries. I wanted to thank you all once again for reading this fic! I will also be posting sidefics for pairings and characters within the au. I posted one with shikacho and hope you'll check it out!

Ino and Sakura were absolute terrors. They hunted Sasuke down wherever he was, forcing him to go to lunch with them, forcing him to sit with them on their breaks, forcing him to tell them all about the blonde menace who’d called him stupid and then disappeared from his life. The two girls would always talk quietly among one another before laughing and then asking the Uchiha some weird question about his preferences or what kind of person he was attracted to. He’d managed to avoid telling them he was gay, he was still pretty wary of people who asked such forthright questions, but did relax a little when he accidentally walked in on the two girls making out in the back locker room. Neither seemed embarrassed by the incident and continued to harass him for days afterward.

Sasuke didn’t _mind_ their company, they were just _really_ loud. He’d taken to hiding behind the store with only his juul and headphones to accompany him on his breaks just because he wanted to get a little peace and quiet during his shift. He had to deal with obnoxious girls trying to force his number out of him and taking pictures of him all day, he’d really appreciate one break alone.

So there he was, sitting by the back door of the store taking a hit off his juul. He inhaled the smooth mint vapor, held it in for as long as he could as he let the vapor sink into his system, filling his head and lungs with the burning sweetness of the nicotine. He exhaled slowly, feeling a sudden loss and anxiety creeping back up into his system as the euphoric bliss of the head rush dissipated at the same time his lungs emptied themselves. He was taking another hit, slow and full, when the back door suddenly swung open and hit the Uchiha in the back. As the vapor stuck in his lungs he choked and spluttered, a couple of weak puffs leaving him as he coughed.

“Oh shit sorry!” he heard as he held his gut and wheezed. “I didn’t think anyone else would be out here, oh man, did I hurt you?! Shit, shit, shit, let me help…!” Sasuke felt a hand on his arm, supposedly from whoever was yelling, and looked up as he coughed. Dark onyx eyes met blazing blue for a split second before Sasuke was hacking up vapor again. “I’ll go get you some water!” The door swung open and shut again, this time thankfully missing the Uchiha man, before reopening a few minutes later. A water bottle was shoved into his face and he took it gratefully, chugging at least half the bottle before his coughing finally subsided and he could properly breathe.

“Shit man, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know anyone was gonna be out here! It’s kinda weird you were just like sitting by the door but I mean where else are you gonna sit actually, this is the only place you can, I guess you could’ve sat by the loading dock but like the trucks are here so that’s out. Now that I think about it, I-”

“Could you just… stop talking?” Sasuke hissed. He watched the blonde recoil for a second, suddenly unsure. The Uchiha took another drink of water, finally sure his body was at ease, before heaving a great sigh. “Sorry, I just… I need to be alone right now.” Naruto blinked at him before considering what he’d said.

“I mean, sure yeah, but um… this is like… my spot…?” he murmured. Sasuke turned to glare at the blonde and huffed.

“Your _spot?_ You don’t own the outside of the store, idiot.” Naruto bristled a bit at the insult and plopped down beside him.

“I may not own the outside but I definitely own this stoop! Look!” Naruto pointed at the second step down, a smug smirk on his face, and Sasuke followed the line of his finger to a small, almost illegible scratching in the surface. Sure enough, the name “Naruto” was carved into the steps. Sasuke could’ve throttled him. He’d probably carved his fucking name into it in preparation of this exact situation happening. How long had he been waiting to do this, what a fucking dork.

“You literally carved your name into some stone steps? How fucking childish do you have to be?” he snapped. Naruto glared at him again but didn’t respond. Instead, the two stared each other down, sizing the other up, before simultaneously huffing and looking away. “I guess… since you own them I can’t make you leave…” Sasuke finally mumbled. Naruto brightened a bit before patting (or smacking, shit was painful) his back and grinning.

“That’s the spirit! Thanks man!” Sasuke was already starting to regret this.

Over the next few weeks, Sasuke and Naruto developed a tentative schedule concerning the stoop. Sasuke would sit outside and juul and Naruto would sit beside him. Sometimes the blonde man couldn’t shut up and was all too excited to scream about his day and the cute men and women he got to help and what he was doing after work. There were some days however when the blue eyed man was quiet. Those days worried the Uchiha a bit because Naruto wouldn’t even make fun of him for his nicotine addiction, he’d just watch as the vapor cloud from his juul swirled up into the sky and eventually silently slip back into the store without another word to Sasuke. Those days were few and far between, but when it did happen, Sasuke couldn’t help but wonder what was on the blonde’s mind.

Since Sasuke worked nights and Naruto always got off around eight or nine depending on the state of the auto center their breaks weren’t always at the same time, but they had at least one break that would usually line up together. On the weekends, Sasuke was normally scheduled for a mid shift so almost every single one of his breaks would coincide with the brash blonde’s. He found he actually really liked Naruto’s company once the blonde idiot finally figured out how to speak to him. Where Ino and Sakura were loud to be loud and assert their presence, Naruto’s volume seemed more like another part of him. If he wasn’t loud, Sasuke would probably get a little worried.

Speaking of which, Sasuke made sure to keep these meetings a secret from the two (admittedly terrifying) nosy women and it seemed Naruto had already been coming here since he’d been hired and nobody knew where he’d gone. He’d heard Hinata talking to Shikamaru about it one day, and the two simply decided he walked to the Wendy’s down the road to grab some food on his lunches. It did seem like Shikamaru knew more than he let on, but the lazy man really didn’t seem to care enough to try to “expose” their spot. He appreciated the blonde’s ability to keep something like this a secret, he didn’t have the energy to argue about whether or not he had a thing for Naruto which he definitely _didn’t_ no matter how many looks he got from his coworkers now that he came through his line exclusively. Even if he came with Kiba to get some smokes and Sasuke wasn’t on 5, he would seek him out and just try to talk to him about anything and everything, from how his day was going to what shows he’d watched the night before.

All good things must come to an end it seemed, because Sakura and Ino seemed to zero in on him the second he let slip that he and Naruto _could_ be considered friends. It confounded him to no end, it really did. He had no clue how two women could be _so obsessed_ with some random guy’s personal life and relationships, but here they were cornering him at his register with, of all things, _gum_ , fucking _Fruit Stripes gum_ , just so they could speak to him. He’d known he was fucked the second Sakura slammed the bright package down onto his belt and hit his light so nobody else would enter the line. He silently prayed Ebisu wasn’t anywhere nearby, but Shikamaru had surely been brought in on whatever plan this was and he knew to keep the obnoxious man away.

“So,” Ino began, a small smirk on her lips, “we heard you’re friends with Naruto.” Sasuke blinked but didn’t respond. _Just keep quiet until they leave_. “So when do you guys hang out? We only ever see him come through your line and you ride home with us.” _Not by choice_. That was another thing Sasuke hated about the girls, they forced him to ride home with them everyday. Sure it was nice to have a ride to the dorms, but that meant they had more time to trap him in a finite space and try to force him to talk. Those were the times he’d much rather forget, as they were now aware of his short lived (but still incredibly embarrassing) scene phase in high school. “C’mon Uchiha give it up, we know about the stoop.” Sasuke froze in place, onyx eyes widening minutely, hopefully not enough for it to be noticeable. He wasn’t so lucky. The girls’ matching smug expressions only seemed to brighten as Sakura leaned over the belt and into his personal space.

“You know, Naruto can’t stop talking about you,” she said. What did that mean? Naruto talked about him? Was he talking shit or something? He could hear his own heart pounding, his blood rushing through his ears, he couldn’t breathe. Was Naruto just using him as some kind of joke? What did he have to gain from that? Sasuke should’ve known someone like Naruto would try to do something like that, it was-

“Stop overthinking things, we can see the smoke coming out of your ears,” Ino snickered. Sasuke blinked again and stared at the both of them. “He doesn’t talk shit about you, okay? He’s just excited he has a new friend. We wanna help you out, if you know what I mean.” Ino winked and Sasuke’s heart sank. He knew what she meant and he didn’t like it at all. Forced interaction was _not_ his thing, he didn’t wanna be forced into a situation where he had to socialize with people he didn’t know, and they’d been asking him for weeks to- “We already told him you’re coming to our monthly Habanero’s dinner.” That was it. Sasuke was dead in the water now.

The “monthly Habanero’s dinner” was a dinner in which all of Naruto’s friends, a group of roughly twelve people who all worked at the store, met to eat and catch up on what they’d missed over the month. It was so well known in the store that none of the assistant managers scheduled the members of the group when it happened. Sasuke hated the idea of being crammed into a huge table with twelve strangers who forced him to drink and talk and laugh when he didn’t want to. He wished he could leave, he needed his juul, he needed to hide, he did _not_ want to put up with these obnoxious women meddling in _his_ life. Sakura smiled sympathetically, seemingly indicating it was mostly Ino’s idea, but she definitely wasn’t trying to _help him out of this_.

“We’ll see you tomorrow night at seven then!” Ino beamed at the Uchiha before leaning over and flipping his light back on, grabbing her gum and sauntering away. Sasuke slouched back onto the counter, suddenly in a foul mood. He ended up avoiding the stoop altogether and after his shift ended ran from the locker room before Naruto could even try to speak to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter may be a little rushed, I had to finish it before going to work. Thank you for your support and have a great day!


	5. Habanero's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke attends the Konoha Korner monthly Habanero's dinner with some unexpected outcomes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little longer since I haven't updated as much lately!

Naruto couldn’t shake the feeling literally everybody knew something he didn’t. He was already in kind of a bad mood, Sasuke had avoided him the entire day before and today and he had no clue why. Sakura and Ino would whisper with each other and giggle at him from the far side of the table. Nobody but Shikamaru would sit by him for some reason and instead of letting him sit near the middle like he usually did they pushed him closer to the edge of the table. He really didn’t understand what was going on and he didn’t like it. Sure he wasn’t the smartest guy around, but it really shouldn’t have been this hard to figure out what everyone was planning! 

Shikamaru sat on the other side of Naruto, his arm casually thrown around Chouji as he spoke with Temari across the table. On the other side of Chouji were Naruto’s roommates and Kankurou, and across from them sat Sakura and Ino who spoke animatedly with Lee beside them. Gaara was trying to dodge Lee’s flapping arms and kept accidentally leaning too far into Neji’s space. The lavender eyed man grumbled a little but understood and moved a little further into TenTen’s space. TenTen had strategically managed to place herself beside Temari and Sai brought up the end of the other side. About fifteen people had shown up tonight, a record really as _someone_ usually had an assignment to complete or test to study for. There was one empty seat beside the blonde and he was practically fuming by the time Ino had loudly declared the “seating order” for the night. The only people he really spoke to were on the other side of the table! Sure he liked Sai and Temari and he had Shikamaru right beside him, but the paler man directly across from him was kinda weird at these dinners once he got a few drinks down. Temari and Shikamaru were deep in some odd telepathic communication or something trying to figure out how to get TenTen to magically realize how in love with her the blonde really was without her saying it (it was not going well).

They heard “Welcome to Habanero’s!” called for the hundredth time from the front of the restaurant. Suspiciously, Sakura and Ino perked up at the sight of whoever had just walked through the door. Naruto, who was busy sulking in his corner, spared a glance sideways but couldn’t make out who’d come in. Sakura suddenly jumped up from her seat to disrupt the entire table and yelled, “Sasuke! Over here! Sasuke, we’re right here!” Cerulean orbs widened and Naruto turned fully around to see the Uchiha slumped a bit by the door as if he was trying to make himself appear smaller or like he hadn’t even been there in the first place. When he didn’t immediately start walking over, Ino rushed to Sasuke’s side and all but dragged him over to the table.

“Guys, this is Uchiha Sasuke, the new cashier I’ve been telling you all about! We invited him to come eat with us tonight!” Thirteen other pairs of eyes turned to stare at the already squirming dark eyed man. He struggled a little as his blonde captor continued to drag him toward her friends. Naruto was completely dumbstruck and tried not to gape too much, but _damn_ did he look good. Then again, he’d never seen the guy outside of his normal work clothing and _nobody_ looked good in that. He wasn’t even wearing anything special, just normal joggers, some high tops and… was that a _cropped_ hoodie? As Sasuke slowly drew closer to the table it became clear and he was _definitely_ wearing a cropped hoodie. What the fuck? Naruto’s head was spinning, he looked so good it should have been illegal. He suddenly felt self conscious in his own raggedy sweats and oil stained hoodie.

Ino shoved Sasuke into the seat beside Naruto and sauntered over to her own chair, shooting a smug glance behind her at the flustered blue eyed man. Sasuke seemed to radiate nervous energy and Naruto could make out the soft rustle of a hand in a pocket. _Probably holding his juul_. He glanced at the slightly shorter man before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly to prepare for his impending doom. “So, uh… You didn’t tell me you were coming tonight,” he murmured. Sasuke suddenly tensed and snapped his head up to meet the blonde’s gaze.

“You didn’t know I was coming?” he demanded. Naruto arched a brow as he observed the Uchiha warily.

“I had no clue you were even invited,” the blonde responded softly. Sasuke’s expression darkened and he leaned over to shoot a scathing look at the lesbian menaces cackling about whatever the fuck they were talking about at the other end of the table. “Um… are you okay…?” The question seemed to snap the Uchiha out of whatever trance he’d been in and he blinked up at the blue eyed man. Seemingly realizing their close proximity, Sasuke recoiled a bit and scooted his chair a couple centimeters to the side. The gesture did not go unnoticed by Naruto and he visibly deflated. “If you want me to switch seats with someone else, I’d be happy to-”

“No!” Sasuke’s sudden exclamation earned him a few odd glances from a couple of the people who were seated at the table, but the majority ignored him in favor of continuing their own conversations. Once the Uchiha was sure nobody’s attention but Naruto’s was on him, he sighed softly and shook his head. “You’re the only person I know here. Sakura and Ino told me you knew I was coming.” It was Naruto’s turn to shoot the girls his own disapproving look. Luckily for him the two noticed and, as if they’d realized their plan was _not_ in fact foolproof, sank a bit into their seats. Tonight was gonna be a long night it seemed. Naruto sighed, reached over and downed Shikamaru’s beer in one go.

______________________________________

Sasuke didn’t regret coming to the dinner per se. He really wasn’t ecstatic about being forced into social activities though. He had to emotionally prepare for that shit, especially since he’d been stuck in the corner of the table with Naruto of all people. Sure he could tolerate Naruto and his company for more than five minutes, but he was cut off from literally everyone else, especially while the blonde man flailed around trying to steal all of his friend’s drinks. The guy was probably gonna feel terrible tomorrow. The Uchiha sighed, defeated, and downed his own beer in one go. After finishing that he decided to treat himself and sprang for what was, to him, the next logical step, a margarita. If he was in this for the long haul he was (really) gonna need it.

Naruto had seemingly calmed down a bit as the night went on and Sasuke found he actually enjoyed talking with Chouji, Temari and Shikamaru. Tired of being talked over, the Uzumaki graciously offered his seat to the darker haired man and watched on with limited interest as his friends started an in depth conversation about their honors classes, sipping on another beer he’d somehow managed to materialize. He was slower to drink this one, as if he was savoring it although Sasuke was pretty sure he’d just started to feel a little buzzed.

A couple of drinks in (it was more than a couple but the details didn’t _really_ matter), Sasuke was actually starting to enjoy himself and could feel his walls starting to come down. Naruto was complaining loudly to Shikamaru over the dark eyed man’s head about _something_ relating to work, but he found he didn’t really mind. Naruto was nice and warm, he didn’t really want him to move away. When the blonde seemed to realize he was basically leaning on the onyx eyed man, he apologized gruffly and scooted a little bit further out of his space. The Uchiha felt a bit put off by it at first but chose to ignore it in favor of simply sliding his chair closer. Naruto gave him an uncomfortable look but didn’t say anything otherwise. He chose instead to focus his attention on Sai and made light friendly conversation asking how his classes were going and whatnot. Sasuke watched, completely enraptured, as Naruto became a bit more expressive but in the subtlest of ways. The slight uptick of the corner of his mouth when Sai made a particularly funny joke, the glow of his bright blue eyes in the shitty lighting of their small corner table, the subtle strength of his jaw as he spoke. Sasuke had definitely noticed how attractive the taller man was after the past few weeks but chocked it up to a lack of viable men to date in his courses. Really, who would want to date some blonde adonis mechanic with a _really_ nice rasp to his voice and deep, emotional pools of blue for eyes. As if he realized he was being watched Naruto turned to meet Sasuke’s gaze. With a soft gasp the Uchiha turned back to face his food and pretended to be occupied with the drink menu in hopes his counterpart wouldn’t notice the slight flush to Sasuke’s cheeks.

The group slowly began to leave and wish one another goodbye as they paid for their food and finished up their drinks. Shikamaru, TenTen and Temari were more than a little drunk and had to be escorted out by a completely sober Chouji and Neji. Lee and Gaara were completely sober and volunteered to take Kankurou and Kiba (who was definitely _not_ going to make it home that night) to their house. Sai slipped out with Sakura and Ino because he was the only one in that small group capable of driving. That left Hinata and Shino, who were largely fine save for the slight flush of Hinata’s cheeks signaling her slight intoxication but she could at least stand. Naruto was surprisingly more sober than Sasuke originally believed. He was definitely at least a little tipsy based on the way he swayed a little, and it took him a little bit longer to form a thoughtful sentence, but he seemed relatively alright.

Sasuke was definitely _not_ alright. He realized a little too late he’d have to walk back to the university completely fucking _sloshed_ because the buses weren’t running at this time of night. How in the _hell_ was he gonna walk home like this? Sakura and Ino were his usual rides if anything happened and Sai had been forced to take them home, it’s not like he could’ve just inserted himself into their little carpool situation he wasn’t even really friends with anyone but Naruto and the blonde menace didn’t even seem to notice him. Hinata and Shino spoke quietly together as they made their way to the door, the taller man’s hand placed firmly on his girlfriend’s waist to steady her. The Uchiha stayed right where he was, planted firmly in his seat. He was sure if he tried to stand now he’d fall over. He _could_ call Itachi and ask him for help, but really wasn’t sure he could get his phone out, let alone dial his asshole brother’s number. After a full night of knowing glances from Sakura and Ino and embarrassing eye contact from Naruto, he wasn’t sure he could deal with his brother’s judgmental gaze.

As he was contemplating how exactly he was going to get home (that was not going well) and how he would explain to his brother that he hadn’t _meant_ to get this drunk (it was all Naruto’s stupid fault dammit), Sasuke briefly registered Naruto’s stare again. Of course he was much too preoccupied with his predicament to notice the blonde until he was standing right in front of him and bending into his personal space. “Hey, dude! I’m talking to you, c’mon man!” Naruto snapped his fingers in front of his face and the smaller man blinked a bit before turning to look back into those bottomless azure orbs.

He wasn’t sure how long he stared at Naruto, and could barely hear the short “huh?” he managed back over the sound of his heart suddenly pounding in his ears. Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes a little before gently grabbing onto his arm, securing it around his shoulders and lifting (wow he was fucking _strong_ ) Sasuke up as slowly as possible from his chair, using his free arm to support his waist. Shino returned back inside after leading Hinata safely to his car and came around to the black haired man’s other side, repeating Naruto’s previous actions as the two led him out the door to a beat up olive green Honda. Naruto gently lowered Sasuke into the car before moving to the other side and getting in.

The ride home was quiet save for Sasuke’s occasional drunken giggle. He tried to be quiet, he really did, but it was so fucking _funny_ to see Naruto acting so weirdly nervous around him. Really, he was just drunk it’s not like he’d grown another head! Just to make sure, he rubbed his shoulder. Nope, no head there. He grinned a little and leaned against the Uzumaki man, nuzzling into his arm and giggling again. “You’re warm,” he murmured. It was like cuddling a heated blanket, he was soft and firm and radiated a comforting heat. God, he never wanted to leave his side. _Wait, what?_ Sasuke blinked at the realization. Did he… _seriously_ have feelings for Naruto? _Naruto?_ Sure he was hot and funny and like… really fucking nice, but that didn’t mean Sasuke _cared_ about him or anything! His mind started to spin out of control as he contemplated the implication of actually developing feelings for the knucklehead. Just when he was about to push Naruto away, the taller man slipped his arm around him and held him close, stopping any and all thoughts the smaller man had at once. With a flushed, shy glance to the side he noticed the pink staining the blonde’s tan cheeks.

“We’re, uh… we’re here,” the blue eyed man murmured. Sasuke looked around expecting to see his dorm. Instead, he noticed Shino helping Hinata into a small one story house. Slightly confused and wary, he gripped Naruto’s arm.

“Where’s here?”

______________________________________

Naruto could have kicked himself, of course Sasuke had no clue where they were, what had he expected! It was just hard not to get caught up in the moment, especially after the events of the night. He was _this_ close to losing it, he really was. Sasuke had been so fucking cute at dinner, it was insane. The more he drank the friendlier he got. He wasn’t jumping off the walls or anything, but his entire demeanor seemed to loosen, a certain tenseness he couldn’t seem to let go of normally was suddenly gone. When everyone left and Sasuke had stayed put, he realized he’d never seen the guy drive (not that he actually _could_ in this state) and vaguely remembered hearing Sakura and Ino talking about giving him a ride home. The two lived closer to campus than Naruto and his roommates, so it didn’t put them out much to take him home. Not that Naruto wouldn’t, he just didn’t have a car to do so.

He also realized a bit belatedly that he had absolutely no idea where the smaller man’s dorm was located. There were four different towers on campus, all of which were a fair ways away from one another, he couldn’t just drop him off and let him roam around alone. It wouldn’t hurt to let him stay over at their house, Naruto could just borrow Shino’s car and take him home the next morning, but he wasn’t even sure the Uchiha would like that. He’d been so cold the past couple days he wasn’t even sure he wanted to be near him, although at the restaurant he’d started slowly moving closer and closer to him. And now here he was in the back of Shino’s car with Sasuke basically in his lap trying not to lose his fucking mind. He was drunk, he had no idea what he was doing! Naruto didn’t want to make it anymore awkward between them than it already was. He tried to get ready to pull Sasuke out of the car and put his arm around him, hoping to kami and whoever else was out there that he could do this without letting on just how much he cared. It probably would’ve made sense to actually _tell_ Sasuke where they were, the guy was heavily intoxicated and would probably freak out if he just tried to force him out the door. _This already isn’t going well, great going Uzumaki._ He sighed and rubbed the man’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

“We’re at my house, I was gonna let you stay here since I didn’t know where your dorm is.” Realization seemed to quietly dawn on the raven haired man and he nodded his acknowledgement. “I’m gonna pull you out now, okay?” Sasuke nodded again in affirmation and Naruto took in a deep breath before carefully opening the car door and ushering him out. Just like he did in the restaurant, he kept his arm around his waist and Sasuke’s around his shoulder and made sure to stop whenever the Uchiha would waver.

After finally making it into the house, Naruto was met with another issue. Where the hell was he gonna sleep? He couldn’t stay in Kiba’s room, Akamaru slept in there and did _not_ like strangers staying there without his owner (Naruto had learned that the hard way). The couch was really shitty. Like, _really_ shitty. The members of his household hardly even sat on it anymore, they’d much rather sit on various cushions on the floor than the couch, but when they would all get together and decide to get a new one they’d end up distracted and end up leaving it for another day. He supposed he could let Sasuke stay in his room, although that was… very awkward. He’d probably just risk it in Kiba’s room, the Incident had been years ago after all. Hinata and Shino were already in their shared room, presumably getting ready for bed. 

Resolving himself to his fate, Naruto sighed and carefully led Sasuke to his own bedroom. He helped him sit on his bed and carefully pulled his shoes off his feet. The other man’s silence did not go unnoticed by the Uzumaki, but he didn’t want to bring too much attention to it. After gently placing his shoes to the side, Naruto stood and scratched the back of his neck a little. “You can sleep here if you want. I’m gonna crash in Kiba’s room next door, so if you need anything feel free to knock and ask. He’s got a dog, he’s friendly I just don’t want you to be surprised when you see him if you do end up needing me. I have some clothes you can borrow if you want-”

Naruto felt himself suddenly pulled forward by the shirt and it was all he could do to keep himself from completely crushing the raven haired man below him. His hands gripped the sheets firmly on either side of Sasuke, his face only a few centimeters above the drunken man, hovering, unsure. It had taken him aback for sure, he hadn’t expected the other man to do that. Sasuke giggled again, softer and a bit rough.

“You know, for an idiot you sure are cute…,” the smaller man whispered. Naruto flushed and he tried to pull back, but Sasuke kept a firm grip on his shirt. “Sakura and Ino knew how I felt before I did I guess,” the Uchiha admitted, refusing to break eye contact with the panicked blonde. He tried to gently pull Naruto down, but since he was prepared for it the other man didn’t budge. A little frustrated at the lack of action, Sasuke pouted, actually fucking pouted, and stood. He stumbled a little, falling into Naruto’s chest. On instinct, the blonde wrapped his arms around him in order to steady him.

“You’re gonna hurt yourself, Sasuke, c’mon,” he whispered, a pained expression on his face. Sasuke tried to stand on his toes to reach him, lips hovering only a few centimeters from his own. “Sasuke, stop. You’re drunk, I don’t want this to be the way it happens.” The dark eyed man blinked and let himself slump against the taller man, completely drained of his energy and somewhat defeated.

“I knew you were too wholesome to do anything,” Sasuke mumbled, a bitter smile on his face. “You’re too good.” Naruto was still confused, his mind reeling from what had just occurred, but he chose not to respond. Slowly, he lowered the man onto the bed and tucked the covers around him. 

“I’ll be in the next room, okay?” Sasuke nodded, admitting his own defeat. Naruto smiled weakly and gently shifted a strand of hair from his face. He could have died right there when Sasuke fucking _nuzzled_ into his hand. “Good night,” the blonde choked out, suddenly incredibly embarrassed. He gently pulled his hand away and watched the Uchiha turn over, gripping onto a pillow and giving in to the world of sleep.

Naruto wouldn’t sleep that night. He lie awake in Kiba’s bed, slowly petting his friend’s Great Pyrenees Akamaru, the giant white dog licking his face every once in awhile as if to comfort him. Drawing in a deep breath, the blue eyed man came to a decision. He’d confess to Sasuke. He’d do it tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to get on a more regular update schedule, I'm going to shoot for a chapter every Friday but if I do end up finishing it up earlier I'll post it early. Thank you for your continued support!


	6. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hung over and very confused, Sasuke and Naruto's morning goes about how you'd expect.

Light streaming through the blinds caused Sasuke to stir slightly. He nuzzled into the pillow he was hugging, trying to block the light from his view. An unfamiliar scent, something distinctly musky but somehow familiar. He gripped the pillow tighter and burrowed deep under the blankets. The movement caused a sharp pain to emanate from the base of his spine up through his body and to his brain, where it settled as a dull ache in his head. He’d gotten really fucked up last night. The last thing he remembered was talking to Shikamaru about _something_ and Naruto cutting in. Naruto… he had a feeling he knew something about the taller man but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. What was it about Naruto? The Uchiha groaned as another sudden pain resonated through his skull. He definitely should _not_ have gotten as drunk as he had.

The sound of the door opening put the onyx eyed man on high alert. Had he left his dorm room unlocked? He heard some soft shuffling around, drawers opening and closing. _Are they going through my clothes?_ Sasuke made the split second decision to confront whoever it was in his room and shot up, ignoring his nausea and now swimming vision. Whoever it was smacked some part of themselves into the dresser. A soft, pained groan could be heard from across the room and as Sasuke’s vision slowly cleared his eyes widened. Naruto was standing in front of him in nothing but a towel. Naruto. Was standing in front of him. In nothing but a towel. “What the fuck?!” he yelled, throwing a pillow at the blonde man.

“H-hey, what the hell…!” Naruto protested. Sasuke threw another pillow. “Dude, seriously! Stop!”

“How did you get in here?!” Sasuke demanded. He grabbed another pillow in preparation for another attack, holding it up in a silent threat.

“What do you mean, this is my room…!” The blonde shouted, already shielding himself from his impending doom. Sasuke lowered the pillow, completely confused.

“Your room…?” He looked around and, sure enough, this was not his dorm room. Realization slowly started to dawn on him as he glanced over the soft gray walls covered from head to toe in posters and photos. He couldn’t remember anything from the night before, Naruto was standing in front of him in nothing but a towel, and he was in _Naruto’s_ bed.”…You’d better have a good explanation for this. I know how to use this.” The Uchiha held his last pillow up menacingly, a silent threat for the blonde.

“Okay, okay, just drop your weapon and I’ll explain!” Naruto continued to shield himself until slowly Sasuke lowered the pillow. He kept it in his grip and swayed a little, still surprisingly nauseous, but determined to get a proper explanation. “I brought you here last night because you were too drunk to walk yourself home and I didn’t know where you lived! I let you sleep in here and I slept in my roommate’s bedroom because I didn’t wanna overstep any boundaries. I took a shower and realized I forgot my clothes in here, otherwise I definitely wouldn’t be in here like this! I swear dude, I’m so sorry, just let me grab some clothes and I’ll go, okay?”

Sasuke somehow managed to process Naruto’s rushed explanation over the pounding in his skull, considered his words for a minute, then narrowed his eyes at the blonde and nodded. Naruto visibly relaxed and grabbed his clothes before scurrying out of the room, completely embarrassed. Suddenly feeling incredibly awkward (he _had_ just yelled at the guy in his own home after all), the Uchiha tried to actually get out of bed only to feel a painful lurch in his stomach. That familiar awful feeling, his stomach churning wildly, vision swimming once again. He stumbled from the bed and out of the room, slamming right into a now clothed Naruto. The look of panic and recognition in those bright blue eyes didn’t register until he felt himself being ushered quickly into the bathroom between Naruto and someone else’s room. The Uchiha didn’t have time to think before he felt his insides lurch and moved to bend over the toilet, emptying his stomach completely. Once he was finished, he felt a gentle pair of hands help him sit on the floor. Sasuke leant back against the wall of the tub, flushed and panting softly. This was definitely _not_ the way he wanted to start his day, but he supposed it couldn’t be helped. _I’m never drinking again_. He knew that was a lie, but in the moment it came as a great comfort to him.

Sasuke wasn’t sure how long he’d been on the floor, but eventually Naruto returned to the bathroom, and this time he was carrying something. The blonde took a seat beside him on the floor and leaned against the tub. He handed him a couple of small pills and a tumbler that felt warm to the touch. Sasuke eyed the capsules warily and shot his companion a nervous look. “What’s that?” he asked. “You’re not tryin’ to drug me, are you?”

Naruto chuckled softly and shook his head. “That’s ibuprofen dummy. And this is a caffeine pill. Hinata says it’s good for a bad headache.”

“And this?” Sasuke shook the tumbler a little, the sound of the liquid sloshing softly in the quiet of the room and subsequently hitting the black haired man with another small wave of nausea.

“Ginger tea! It’s Shino’s favorite,” Naruto explained. “I added a lot of honey so it’ll be kinda sweet at first, be careful. Hinata says that’s good for you too.” The blonde watched as Sasuke eyed him, then the drink and pills, then him again, before finally relenting and swallowing the pills and chugging the contents of his cup. When he set the tumbler down with a satisfied sigh and noticed Naruto still staring at him, that familiar awkward energy from earlier resurfaced. He’d seen Naruto _shirtless_. Sure he’d seen plenty of guys shirtless, but this was on another level. The blonde was different in a way. Sasuke usually went for the bigger more muscular types, and while Naruto was a bit more built than the average guy, he definitely wasn’t Sasuke’s type. _Or is he?_ Sasuke _really_ couldn’t shake the feeling he’d forgotten something important. All he knew was when he looked into those deep blue eyes he felt safe and wanted and he never wanted that feeling to go away.

______________________________________

Everything was really weird right now. Naruto and Sasuke were sitting there in silence, staring into each other’s eyes after the other man had just puked his guts out. The blonde felt his stomach twisting into knots. He really wanted to kiss him, it didn’t matter if he probably had literal alligator breath right now. That seemed to understandably be the last thing on the Uchiha’s mind as he tried to finally take in his surroundings and calm down after his previous scare in the bedroom.

“I’m, uh… sorry you had to do this for me,” Sasuke mumbled, turning an adorable shade of pink. “I can go if you need me to, the buses should be running by now.” Naruto’s heart sank a bit. He didn’t want the other to leave. Even if their morning had been full of awkward encounters and the smaller man puking in a stranger’s bathroom, he still wanted to spend time with him. Stay with him. _Confess_ to him. That was a scary thought. Really, who would’ve guessed after three months of knowing him that Naruto would stay so head over heels in love for one of the most callous guys out there? Sure he wasn’t as mean anymore, but he definitely had his moments. The blonde really just didn’t want him to leave.

Sasuke went to stand and wobbled a bit, reaching out to grab the shower curtain to steady himself. When his hand missed he started to fall backward but Naruto was there, jumping to his feet and pulling the dark haired man into his chest for the second time in twenty four hours. He held him there for a bit, part of him worried for the smaller man’s safety, another part of him grateful for the bodily contact with the (potential) love of his life. “Um… I think I’d like it if you stayed…,” Naruto whispered. When he noticed Sasuke’s ears slowly turning pink and start to push a bit against his embrace he quickly added, “Because you’re still definitely not feeling too great!” The Uchiha relaxed a little, but kept a few extra centimeters between them for good measure. Naruto pretended not to be hurt.

It took a few minutes for Sasuke to actually feel up to moving, but once he was Naruto carefully led him back to his bedroom and helped him lay down. “I’ll, uh, make some breakfast? You definitely need to eat after that. I’ll get you more tea too.” Naruto closed the blinds and took extra care to shut the curtains completely before moving back around to the bedside and adding another blanket to the already huge pile the darker haired man found himself buried underneath. 

“You’re gonna suffocate me,” Sasuke complained. Naruto just rolled his eyes and grinned before fluffing the pillows beside him.

“C’mon, it’ll make you feel better. Me and Kiba always do this when we’re hungover.” At the mention of the Inuzuka, Sasuke’s expression soured. Lately he’d get like that anytime Naruto brought up someone who wasn’t him. The blonde thought it was kind of weird but chose to ignore it in favor of fawning over how cute the other was. Seemingly pacified, Sasuke burrowed deep underneath the blankets. Only the tips of the back of his already disheveled hair could be made out. It weirdly made Naruto feel warm inside, like this could be something that happened in the future maybe. He shoved those thoughts away, locking them up as quickly as they manifested before swallowing his nervousness and heading to the kitchen.

Naruto made Sasuke his breakfast, took it in to him and then left him to take a nap on his own. The house was completely empty save for Akamaru, who’d decided to occupy the entirety of the couch. Kiba was still most likely at Kankurou’s and Hinata and Shino were already at work. It wasn’t like the blonde could join Sasuke in his bedroom, he’d been skittish enough when he woke up, and he was trying his best not to make him feel anymore awkward or nervous than he already was. In his mind the really only left him one option, and that was to take a nap and basically wait for the Uchiha to come out on his own. Instead of going to Kiba’s room (it really fucking smelled in there) he decided to cuddle up with Akamaru on the couch. Sensing his plummeting mood, the giant Pyrenees waited for Naruto to shift around until he was happy with his position and laid himself across the man’s chest, almost like a giant, furry weighted blanket. If anything it made the blue eyed man laugh and he eventually found himself falling asleep.

A few hours later, Naruto’s makeshift blanket was pushing him off the couch. The blonde fell flat onto his face and smacked an arm into the coffee table. He groaned softly and sat up, glaring at the giant white dog who seemed to be feeling _incredibly_ proud of himself. It almost made him forget about the dull ache in his lower back from sleeping on their awful, awful couch. _I really need to remind the guys to get a new one_. Rubbing his still aching skull, he glanced around the living room and spotted his own bedroom open down the hallway. _Is Sasuke up?_ Akamaru woofed softly and leaned down to nudge him in the opposite direction with his muzzle, toward the front door. “What, you wanna go outside, bud?” Naruto grinned and turned, only for his face to fall when he spotted Sasuke carefully trying to slip out the door. The Uchiha froze as soon as he realized he was caught, halfway out the door with his shoes in hand. A stare down followed for a few solid minutes before Sasuke sighed heavily and shut the door, stepping back inside the house.

“Um… I didn’t wanna bother you anymore, so I was gonna go home,” the onyx eyed man murmured. Naruto felt his heart sink a bit and he sighed.

“If you wanna go you can, I’m not keeping you here. I just wanted you to be safe,” he mumbled. He noticed the Uchiha tense again and felt another punch of emotion in his gut.

“Why would you care? It’s not like we’re actually friends or anything.” Something in Sasuke’s tone and expression made Naruto’s heart break. Did he really think the blue eyed man didn’t care? That he was somehow upset with him for needing help? He stood slowly so as not to startle him further and crept closer from his place in the middle of the room. He didn’t stop again until he was about a foot away from Sasuke, the smaller man looking very much like he was ready to bolt, and offered a weak smile.

“You don’t remember anything from last night, do you?” he asked. Sasuke didn’t respond for a while before finally shaking his head. _Well, fuck_. It looked like he’d have to start back from square one with this. He was trying to come up with a plan, some way to remind the Uchiha of what was happening.

The sound of a stomach growling snapped both men out of whatever trance they’d previously been in. Naruto had never heard someone’s stomach growl that loudly and actually thought he’d imagined it, but Sasuke gripping his stomach a little nervously and turning a soft shade of pink made him realize it _had_ actually happened and they had both most likely (definitely) slept most of the day away.

“Um… I think I’m gonna… go,” Sasuke murmured, reaching for the door again.

Naruto panicked a little, his one chance was walking out the door, and before he could really think of what he was saying blurted out, “Do you wanna get dinner with me?” Both men stared at each other again before Sasuke’s pink flush deepened to a flattering shade of red.

“Are you…,” Sasuke trailed off, worrying at his lip a little as if he was trying to work up the courage to verbalize what neither would say.

“Yeah. I am,” Naruto responded. He moved a little closer to the Uchiha and touched his arm gently, a silent and physical confirmation of everything he wished he could say.

The darker haired man mulled it over for a second until at last he smiled. It was small, and still communicated a truly uncertain anxiety both Naruto and Sasuke could feel, but it was a smile and it was there. “I’d really like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School, work, and my internship have been picking up so my uploads will be a little later and fewer but I am not abandoning this work. I'm shooting for every Friday or Saturday to upload at least one chapter. Thank you for sticking with me!


	7. Ramen Ichiraku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and Sasuke grab a bite to eat

This was happening. This was really happening. Uchiha Sasuke was going on an actual date with Uzumaki Naruto. If you’d told him that would be happening not even twenty-four hours before he would’ve laughed in your face, but no. It was really happening, _this_ was really happening. Sasuke tried not to feel self conscious, he _was_ wearing the same clothes as the night before. Naruto had of course offered to let him borrow some other clothing but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. So here he was riding beside Naruto in Kiba’s car with pretty much no clue where they were heading in his day-old clothes and his heart pounding in his chest. He felt around in his pocket and instantly calmed when he felt his fingers brush against the cool exterior of his juul.

Naruto didn’t talk much during the ride but Sasuke really wasn’t in the mood to anyway. He still had a somewhat prevalent headache and too much movement made him feel a little sick. Unable to handle sitting up through the entire car ride, especially after the blonde man took a corner a little too sharply, Sasuke sent a silent prayer to kami before leaning over and resting his head against the other man’s shoulder, careful not to disrupt any movement he would need to make while he drove. He felt Naruto tense a bit before he relaxed and shifted so the Uchiha could have be a little more comfortable (as comfortable as you can get in a rundown Jeep). 

Sasuke tried to focus on the warmth radiating from the man beside him but found the nauseous feeling had risen and lodged itself in his throat. At first he was afraid he was going to throw up again, but realized eventually that it was more a matter of his nervousness than anything.

The car came to an unsteady halt in front of a rundown looking strip mall surprisingly close to campus. There was a small convenience store, hair salon, a couple of empty shops, and what looked like a ramen restaurant. A small glowing sign spelling out Ramen Ichiraku sat above the door. Naruto gently nudged Sasuke off before getting out of the car and then hurrying over to the passenger side so he could carefully help the still woozy Uchiha outside.

Sasuke looked around a little warily before turning back to the taller man. “Where are we going?” he asked. Naruto nodded in the direction of Ichiraku and placed a steadying hand on his lower back as they walked, his smile growing as they grew closer to the restaurant. The blonde opened the door for his companion and ushered him in gently before following close behind.

The interior of Ichiraku Ramen was cozy and definitely larger than Sasuke originally thought. Brand new, polished wooden laminate floors shone in the soft light of the room. There wasn’t much in the way of lighting save for the round candle votives on each table and soft dimmable pendant lights overhead. Wooden booths with rich, plush looking red upholstery occupied half of the space and disappeared into the back left corner of the restaurant. Immediately in front of the doorway and empty hostess station was a beautiful circular wrap around bar counter with matching stools lined all around the edges, the same color of red as the booth upholstery. An older man stood behind the counter in an apron adding the finishing touches to a couple of bowls. Naruto lit up as soon as he spotted him and grabbed Sasuke’s hand (so they were holding hands now), pulling him over to the bar and plopping down on one of the stools. Sasuke hesitated a bit before taking the stool beside him. He didn’t mention the fact Naruto still hadn’t let go of his hand.

“Hey gramps, how ya been?” Naruto called. The man behind the counter immediately straightened and turned around, a wide grin on his face.

“Naruto! You haven’t been here for a while, Ayame was starting to get worried,” the man responded pleasantly. He turned to smile at Sasuke. “Who’s this? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.” Sasuke cleared his throat a bit and nodded.

“I’m, uh, Uchiha Sasuke. I’m Naruto’s…” he trailed off a bit, a little unsure of what to say. Was it okay to say he was Naruto’s boyfriend? They hadn’t even finished their first date, was that too presumptuous? He wasn’t even really sure he wanted a boyfriend, what if Naruto was expecting more than he was willing to give?

Naruto seemed to notice Sasuke’s temporary lapse and smiled. “He’s my friend, I decided to bring him here since he’s a little hungover,” he explained smoothly. Sasuke let out a soft sigh of relief and gripped his juul gently in his pocket, silently cursing his unironic nicotine addiction. 

“Well it’s always good to meet another one of Naruto’s friends! I’m Teuchi,” the man replied. He extended his hand to Sasuke, who stared at it for a moment before deciding it would be alright to shake his hand back. “How much has Naruto told you about us?” Teuchi asked.

At once, Sasuke was a bit confused. Was this not just some ramen place he liked? What did that mean? “I’m sorry, I don’t think I know what you mean,” he murmured. Teuchi laughed, full and loud, shaking his head a little and turning back to the bowls he’d been finishing up.

“It’s nothing, son. Just wondering. Naruto said you’re a little hungover? How about some of my famous miso gyoza to perk you up?” The sudden change in subject was a little jarring for the Uchiha but he nodded anyway. Teuchi grinned and got to work without taking Naruto’s order. The blonde didn’t seem to be bothered, so Sasuke chose not to say anything and sat a little awkwardly beside him as they waited for their ramen to be finished.

It didn’t take long before two incredibly attractive looking bowls of ramen were placed on the counter in front of them. “You’ve done it again, gramps! This looks great!” Naruto cheered. He pulled his phone out and snapped a picture then started typing with a speed Sasuke had never seen from the blue eyed man.

“You seriously Instagram your food?” Sasuke couldn’t help but tease. Naruto laughed and shook his head, turning his phone screen to show the shorter man. On the screen was a snapchat of the ramen with an obnoxious “wish you were here” filter and three tiny Naruto figures presenting it to whoever was receiving the snap. A small text box read “Look what I got loser!” with an extra row of emojis. Sasuke really didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but it sure wasn’t that. “And that snap is for…?”

“Anytime me and Kiba get Ichiraku without each other, we send a shitty snap and brag about it,” Naruto explained. His thousand watt grin could’ve blinded the now flustered Uchiha, who turned to stare down at his ramen and start eating instead of responding. “Oh sorry, do you not want me to use my phone? How stupid of me, we’re on a date after all!” Sasuke choked on the ramen he’d been slurping down and coughed.

One of the noodles lodged in his throat and he felt the slimy, slick noodle sticking to the inside of his esophagus. He pounded his fist against his chest and continued to cough as Naruto scrambled to grab some napkins and Teuchi hurriedly filled a cup of water. Eventually, the noodle dislodged itself and Sasuke was able to swallow. He somehow managed to down the entire cup of water he’d been given and his coughing slowly subsided. “Naruto, knock it off! You almost killed him!” Teuchi chided as he refilled Sasuke’s water.

“What? I didn’t do nothin’ gramps, c’mon!” Naruto protested. Teuchi sighed and shook his head, then turned back to continue with preparing various bowls of ramen. The blonde grinned a little shyly over at Sasuke, who was still trying to recover from his embarrassing mishap. _This dumbass is gonna be the death of me_. If that _did_ end up happening, he didn’t think he’d mind.

______________________________________

He’d said it before and he’d say it again: Uchiha Sasuke was really fucking cute. Sure Naruto felt bad for accidentally surprising him and making him choke and all, but they _were_ on a date weren’t they? He didn’t wanna lie to Teuchi!

Eventually all of the commotion calmed down and Teuchi moved to the backroom once more people slowly filed out as they finished their lunch. Naruto and Sasuke _had_ left the house a little late, but the Uzumaki didn’t really notice or care too much since that meant he’d be able to spend more time alone with him. He’d noticed Sasuke tended to tense up around others, he was usually cold with the people he didn’t know or when he was anxious, and Naruto really wanted to try to break through to him.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as they became more accustomed to each other’s presence and ate the majority of their food. Sasuke was eating much slower than Naruto but it didn’t seem to bother him much when the blue eyed man finished and turned to watch him eat. He quietly continued his food as the other watched.

“So how old are you?” Naruto asked. Sasuke snorted a little and turned to give him an incredulous look, making the other shrink back a little in embarrassment. “Sorry, guess that’s kind of a dumb first question, huh?” he grinned shyly and scratched the side of his cheek. _Great going Naruto, you absolute dumbass_. He was way out of his element, he really just wasn’t used to dating, especially after high school ended. The past four years of his life had been a scattered rush of one night stands and short, messy relationships in which the blonde got way too attached way too quickly and the other person was Not About It. He hoped he wasn’t being too forward with the Uchiha, they’d know each other for a few months now and he seemed to reciprocate to some degree. He was afraid of pushing it too far, especially with such a reactionary person like Sasuke.

“How about you just ask me to tell you about myself and we can go from there?” Sasuke offered, that cute fucking smug smirk back on his face. “We’ll be here for years if we just ask one question at a time.”

“Okay, but what if there’s like a specific thing I wanna know?” Naruto asked, pouting _just_ a little bit (he would never admit it).

“Then you ask that specific question, _dobe_ ,” the Uchiha responded affectionately. Naruto felt his cheeks heat at the nickname. Yeah it was an insult and Sakura and Ino both encouraged him to ask Sasuke to stop but he _really_ didn’t want to admit he liked the way he said it. He loved the way his mouth moved as he formed the syllables of the word, the way he’d smirk immediately after calling him that so he’d know it was a joke. Naruto felt another sharp pain in his chest and tried not to react. _Wow I really am stupid_. He really didn’t know how he’d noticed it sooner. _I’m legitimately in love with this idiot_.

Sasuke started the conversation talking about his brother. He did answer Naruto’s first question, he was 22, older than Naruto (and too smug about it), and about a month into his senior year in university, one of the main reasons he hadn’t really been around the store as much. He was only available Thursday through Sunday and Naruto was always off Saturday and Sundays. Sasuke’s brother also worked at the store as a grocery stocker. Naruto briefly remembered a guy who reminded him of Sasuke walking around but never really thought much of it, which was most likely why the blonde had such a weird initial reaction to learning his surname.

The Uchiha _really_ didn’t like his brother. He’d lived with him and his friends sophomore year of college after he wasn’t required to stay in the dorms but ended up immediately moving back in his junior year and had stayed there since. His brother, Itachi was his name, was currently studying law in order to become an attorney. Normally, the Uchiha became policemen, attorneys, judges, the like. Something had happened (something Sasuke didn’t really elaborate on) and suddenly there were just no more Uchiha lawmen. It was an odd detail and seemed like it should have been explained, but Naruto didn’t press any further.

Sasuke was getting his degree in business and entrepreneurship, something he said his family definitely wouldn’t approve of according to him although Naruto was sure he’d do amazing with whatever it was he was getting the degree for. Naruto just thought it was cool he was going to college and told him as such. He’d tried his hand at college himself and dropped out after his first semester, something he immediately regretted but it ironically helped him realize exactly what he wanted to do with his life.

In kind, Naruto talked about how much the store meant to him, how his family was basically everyone at the store because he’d grown up without one and he loved them all to death, that his birthday was next month and he was planning on getting a cat, hopefully one Akamaru could get along with. Sasuke listened intently to everything Naruto told him, from his favorite color being orange to his dream of one day opening his own garage so he could do more than just air some people’s tires up and change their oil. He wanted to help people with what he was good at. Sasuke smiled and told him it was an admirable dream, one perfect for him, and the blonde felt himself beam with pride.

They continued talking for what seemed like hours until Teuchi was forced to usher them out. “We’re closing, c’mon kiddo,” the older man chuckled as he shooed them out the door. It was hard to believe it was past two already, but Teuchi really didn’t seem to mind much. “Come on back at five for dinner, and bring some more of your friends!”

Naruto grinned and waved at him before leading Sasuke back to Kiba’s car. “How about I drop you off at your dorm? We’re pretty close by,” he offered. He really didn’t want this to end, he was so excited it seemed to be going well, he was kind of hoping Sasuke spoke up. The Uchiha seemed a little lost at first, sticking his hand in his pocket for what Naruto knew was his juul, before turning to look back at him.

“I, uh… is it weird that I don’t want to go home yet?” Sasuke murmured. Naruto grinned so widely he felt his face would split in two.

“Not at all! I was hoping you’d say that!” he replied a little _too_ enthusiastically. Sasuke chuckled a little before his smile faded again.

“Um… what would we do though?” he asked. Naruto thought for a moment before he grinned again and started up the car.

“Okay, I’ll take you back to your dorm,” he started. He could already see Sasuke start to protest before he grinned and held a finger up, effectively cutting off any argument he may have tried to start. “And you can get changed and take a shower if you want and later tonight I’ll take you somewhere _really_ great!” The Uchiha considered it for a moment, seemed to weigh his options for what Naruto thought was _far_ too long (it really was maybe three seconds) before he nodded his agreement. “Awesome! Point me in the direction of your dorm!” 

The ride back was filled with less awkward tension and more casual conversation. Sasuke was no longer feeling sick but still chose to lean against Naruto as he drove, occasionally pointing him in the right direction and resting his hand casually on his thigh when he wasn’t. The grin didn’t leave Naruto’s face until they pulled into the parking lot outside Sasuke’s dorm building.

“I’ll pick you back up around seven,” Naruto announced. “Sound good?” Sasuke rolled his eyes but nodded. He unbuckled and started to slowly slide out of his seat before turning to look back at him. In that moment, Naruto really wanted to kiss him but thought better of it. The Uchiha seemed to have a similar thought and hesitated as he slipped a little further out of the car.

After the third time of Sasuke turning around, Naruto chuckled softly and leaned over. “What’s up?” he asked. The shorter man was obviously struggling to articulate his thoughts, and stammered a little before reaching into his pocket again. The blonde smiled and leaned a little further, taking Sasuke’s hand in his and placing a soft kiss to the small mole on the back. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

Sasuke turned bright pink and pulled his hand away so quickly it made Naruto think he might have misread the mood. When he realized the insecurity behind those soft blue eyes, a sudden surge of courage followed the Uchiha climbing back into the car and hurriedly kissing him on the cheek. They stared at each other for a moment, a little shocked at both of their actions, before the darker haired man climbed out of the car for the final time and sprinted to his dorm. Naruto smiled as he watched him go, waiting until he was safely inside before heading home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Next time will be the second half of the date.


	8. Uncertainty Abounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke and Naruto are both nervous for different reasons and seek advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer to hopefully make up for not updating last week.

Sasuke _really_ didn’t want to ask Itachi for help, but he felt the overwhelming nervous urge to talk to him about whatever the fuck was going on right now. He had only just realized he had feelings for Naruto in his hungover stupor and now they were already going on a date.

What was he even supposed to do on a date, he’d only ever been taken to the movies and then fucked in the parking lot afterwards or skipped the movie and jumped straight into bed. There wasn’t anything wrong with that as far as he was concerned, but it mostly culminated in Sasuke not having any fucking idea how to dress himself, carry himself, or really have a proper conversation. He got so weirdly tongue tied around Naruto, he was terrified of embarrassing himself.

That’s how Sasuke found himself outside the Akatsuki House, a renovated frat house just off campus occupied by Itachi and his weird gang of friends. The Uchiha cringed a bit at the memory his year as a resident, so much so he hesitated at the door, before finally swallowing his pride and letting himself in. _Of course the fucking door’s unlocked_. The only person who ever actually tried to lock the door was Konan. Once Hidan had forcibly broken the lock open at four in the morning because the door was locked and he didn’t want to “put up with that bullshit.” The other members of the household simply gave up and never replaced it, although Konan and Yahiko installed a lock on their own bedroom in retaliation.

Surprisingly the house was quiet. Sasuke sent a silent prayer to kami in the hopes Hidan wasn’t around. The white haired zealot never knew when to leave him alone, and without Kakuzu to reign him in there’s no telling what he’d do. He was always trying to pull the youngest Uchiha into some kind of ritual for his weird ass religion following Jashin, the bastard. Another shiver passed through the raven haired man’s body before he pushed on through the entryway and glanced into the kitchen.

The sink was still piled high with dishes (were they the same ones from over two years ago?), although it did appear an attempt was made to clean them up. While Yahiko and Konan were the appointed Parent Figures of the group, their third best friend, Nagato, had been in an awful car accident a few months prior and was still in the hospital recovering so they spent most of their time when they weren’t working at his bedside. Sasuke had overheard Yahiko discussing it quietly with Itachi during the few times he’d visited in past months.

Quietly passing by the kitchen, Sasuke stopped in his tracks and pressed himself up against the wall directly next to the living room doorway when he heard a familiar Jashinist’s vulgar language from inside. He glanced cautiously around the corner and narrowly missed a remote being tossed his way, slamming his back against the wall and clamping his hands over his mouth to keep himself from making a sound. A few more items were thrown out of the room, cushions and picture frames and the like, but eventually the yelling subsided and only quiet muttering could be heard from the room.

Gripping tightly onto his juul in his pocket, Sasuke once again chanced a glance around the doorway. Hidan had his back turned and was aggressively mashing the buttons on a game controller, cursing softly at whatever game he was playing on the large flat screen hung on the wall directly opposite the doorway. The Uchiha made a break for it, carefully padding across the open space before pressing himself back up against the wall on the other side and glancing back in. He noticed offhandedly that the sofa had been completely overturned and the carpet had noticeable stains from whatever drink Hidan had placed on the coffee table. Sasuke carefully sprinted up the stairs and didn’t breathe again until he’d reached the top. He silently congratulated himself for avoiding another awkward encounter with the odd white haired man before composing himself once again and glancing down the sides of the hallway.

Yahiko and Konan’s room was on the first floor, as were Kakuzu, Hidan and Kisame’s. Even though Kisame and Itachi were dating and had been pretty much since they’d met, they still kept their own individual spaces in the house. On the top floor were Itachi, Zetsu, Deidara, Sasori, and Tobi’s rooms. Itachi’s was the last bedroom on the left side of the hallway, closest to Sasuke’s old room which was now a really badly kept up guest/storage space. The top floor was normally pretty empty, although Sasuke knew if Itachi was home he’d most likely be holed up in his own room. Even he got sick of Hidan sometimes (most of the time) and needed a break from his friends.

Sasuke crept over to Itachi’s door, careful not to alert Hidan downstairs to any movement above, and knocked a few times. A couple of seconds passed, enough for the younger to feel a bit awkward waiting, and he almost turned to leave. Just as he was about to go, the door swung slowly open and a rather disheveled Uchiha Itachi opened the door.

“Kisame, I thought we-” Itachi cut himself off before he could say anything else when he realized his blue haired boyfriend _wasn’t_ the person at the door. “Sasuke?” Itachi rubbed his eyes a little before reaching behind to what his younger brother assumed was his dresser near the doorway, where he usually kept his glasses. Once he’d finally managed to find and put his glasses on, the older man straightened a bit and yawned. “Sorry, I just woke up.” _Didn’t need to tell me twice._

Itachi was wearing one of his boyfriend’s overly large shirts (the man was a fucking giant) and probably nothing else. His hair, normally kept up in a neat ponytail, fell gracefully over his shoulders. The lines on his face appeared somehow deeper, possibly from exhaustion. It could have also been the fact that Sasuke had avoided him since he’d gotten his job at the store and he just forgot what he looked like (unlikely but still plausible) most of the time.

Sasuke let his brother wake up a bit more and stretch before following him into his room. He took a seat on the beanbag usually reserved for Kisame by the window and Itachi sat back on his bed. “What was it you needed? You never visit me anymore.”

Of course, the question was inevitable. Sasuke had been avoiding his older brother for months (years really but this was a different kind of avoid) and usually sent four or five texts confirming with him that it was alright to come over. Really though, it shouldn’t have come as _too_ much of a surprise to him that he’d visit sooner or later. Word traveled fast around the store and Sasuke was sure Itachi knew about his situation with Naruto one way or another.

“Don’t act like you don’t know,” Sasuke mumbled a bit petulantly. He picked carefully at a loose string on his joggers (he could’ve at least changed before he came, what the hell) and Itachi didn’t respond. Rather, the eldest Uchiha gave his brother a knowing look before distracting himself with putting his hair up slowly, letting the awkward silence in the room go on far longer than the younger preferred or was comfortable with. Finally it seemed he couldn’t put it off any longer. “Has Deidara told you anything today?”

“Deidara’s told me a lot of things today,” Itachi responded smoothly, the smallest hint of a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Anything in particular you had in mind?” Sasuke groaned inwardly and rubbed at his eyes in despair. Maybe this was a bad idea after all.

“Has Deidara told you anything he heard from Ino specifically,” Sasuke clarified. Both blondes were absolute menaces when it came to gossip and were normally the guilty parties when it came to a rumor or secret spreading around.

Itachi’s knowing smirk widened a bit and he straightened slightly as he observed his brother. “Well, I did happen to hear about a certain younger brother of mine going home with everyone’s favorite mechanic after his group’s monthly dinner,” he teased. “I also remember the outfit you’re wearing right now as the one you posted on your Snapchat yesterday.” Fuck. He really should have changed before he showed up.

“So what, dear brother, do you need from me? Surely Naruto gave you all you needed?” His stupid smirk filled Sasuke with instant rage and he tossed a pillow that had been lying on the floor directly at him. Itachi caught it with ease and chuckled. “I’m just joking, Sasuke. Calm down.” Sasuke bristled a bit again, but deflated almost instantly when he suddenly felt all of the energy leave his body. He was so incredibly tired and so incredibly nervous it was ridiculous.

“I… went on a date with Naruto today,” Sasuke started. “Nothing happened last night by the way,” he quickly added when he noticed Itachi’s eyebrow quirk that way it usually did when he thought something was getting to be especially entertaining. “He was… really nice to me. And neither of us wanted to end it so he said he’d come get me for I guess a continuation tonight and I have no ideawhattodoandneedyourhelp.” Once again Itachi’s eyebrow lifted, this time accompanied by a smug smirk.

“I’m sorry what was that last part?” the elder prodded. Sasuke sighed and mumbled something in response, earning a disapproving sigh and head shake from his brother. “How will I ever be able to know what you need if you won’t speak to me, brother? I’m hurt.”

The kicked puppy act definitely didn’t work on Sasuke anymore but he still felt a bit guilty. Here he was interrupting his _very_ tired and _very_ overworked older brother (even if he did hate the guy) and he couldn’t even ask for help properly. After taking another deep breath to compose himself, he looked Itachi right in the eye and said, “I don’t know what to do or like… how to act on my date with Naruto tonight and I need your help.” The younger watched his brother fight a triumphant grin they both knew would surface eventually, although did seem to be taking things a bit more seriously now. Sasuke hoped he’d take this seriously. He didn’t really have anyone else to ask if he didn’t. 

______________________________________

The moment Naruto made it home he collapsed into his bed and sighed. He felt like he needed another shower just to make sure he was presentable enough for that night and was deeply, incredibly nervous about messing things up. Really, he wasn’t even sure where all of his confidence had come from in the car. He wasn’t usually that bold and was kicking himself for doing so. Seriously, he told Sasuke he’d take him somewhere great but had absolutely no idea where they were going to go.

What did Sasuke really even like? _Tomatoes_. Naruto smiled a little at that, remembering a couple of weeks prior when he’d found Sasuke in their usual spot munching on a roma tomato as if it were an apple. He’d teased him relentlessly about it any chance he could, but upon noticing his shift and subsequent had taken a nosedive, the blonde used the last of his food budget for the week to get the Uchiha a few containers of cherry tomatoes and about two pounds of romas. Sasuke had turned a _really_ cute shade of pink and accepted the gifts with a soft “idiot.” It was almost enough to make Naruto forget he couldn’t buy anymore ramen for the rest of that week unless he scrounged around the house for change.

The front door opened but Naruto didn’t get up. He figured if it was Hinata or Shino they’d want to do their own thing and decompress after work. Kiba would barge in regardless. A muffled woof and some _very_ embarrassing baby talk could be heard from the living room. Kiba was home. Naruto chuckled a little and sighed, rubbing his temples anxiously with the palms of his hands. He was _really_ fucking nervous.

A few minutes later, Naruto heard his bedroom door creak open and turned over in bed to face the intruder. Kiba stood there looking a little worse for wear in his jumpsuit, oil smeared across his face and _of course_ a new bandage on his arm. The guy really needed to get a better handle on his safety. “Hey man, didn’t mean to wake you. You okay?” the brown eyed man grinned and rubbed his face with his sleeve, further smearing the oil across his nose.

“Yeah I’m good. Just trying to get some rest,” Naruto responded placidly, rolling onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. He hesitated for a moment, before softly adding, “‘m taking Sasuke out tonight.” It was silent for a moment so the blonde turned his head again to face the door. A stunned Kiba stood in the doorway, seemingly torn halfway between disbelief and excitement.

The blue eyed man watched nervously as Kiba appeared to experience six different emotions at once. “You’re doing what?” the Inuzuka finally settled on. “I’m sorry, did I hear you correctly?” Naruto huffed out a laugh and nodded. This time a satisfied, almost teasing grin seemed to settle on his face. “And when did you guys decide this, have you guys been talking outside of work, do you-” Realization finally seemed to hit the taller man and he pointed accusatorially at his friend. “He was at Ichiraku with you wasn’t he!” The nervous laugh Kiba got in return was answer enough.

“I was gonna tell you as soon as I got settled but I’m kinda nervous,” Naruto insisted. “He stayed over last night. Nothing happened, he was just really drunk and I didn’t know where his dorm was. I asked him to go get some lunch with me after he woke up and I kinda… asked him if I could see him again tonight.” Kiba whistled and grinned even wider.

“You’re telling me everything, including your plan for tonight,” he announced. “Let me take a shower first, I don’t wanna get oil on your bed.” Kiba rushed out of the room and not even a minute later Naruto heard the shower start. A little less nervous now that he had someone to talk to (maybe it would give him some ideas), the Uzumaki took a deep breath and spread out across his bed. He was supposed to pick Sasuke up in less than three hours and he’d need all the help he could get.

About ten minutes later a fresh and clean looking Kiba in sweats and an old Fall Out Boy shirt. Instead of sitting on the bed like a normal person, the brunette jumped and _landed_ right on top of Naruto, causing the smaller man to cough and sputter a little before he could push the other off of him. “You asshole!” he shouted, alternating between breathless laughs and coughing. Kiba was laughing too and finally settled in beside him.

After a couple minutes of just laying there staring at the ceiling, another weight climbed onto the bed. Akamaru barked softly to announce his presence before settling comfortably between the two and Naruto took the opportunity to use the large dog as a pillow. Kiba turned on his side and leaned against Akamaru a few inches away from the blonde. Once again they fell into a comfortable silence, this time with a large animal there to keep them warm.

“So what’s going on, man? I thought you’d be stoked about this date, you’ve been wanting to ask him out for months,” Kiba finally asked. He just _had_ to break the silence. Naruto silently cursed the man before sighing for the millionth time that day.

“I guess I’m just nervous?” Naruto admitted. “Like it was really fun at Ichiraku and I just… didn’t wanna let him go? But now I have to come up with somewhere else to take him. Where do I even take him?” Kiba nodded sagely before releasing a sigh of his own.

“Have you thought about where he might want to go?” he asked.

“That was the first thing I did,” Naruto responded. “But I really don’t know much about him, I’m not sure what he’d like to do, you know? What if what I pick is super dumb and he makes fun of me?”

Kiba laughed and pushed himself up onto his elbow, staring down at his friend over their wall of dog. “Seriously dude, if he does that he’s not worth it,” he said. “If he actually cared I don’t think it would matter to him what you guys did. He might tease you a little bit, the guy’s kind of a bitch but I’m sure anything you decide to do is totally cool.”

Naruto turned Kiba’s words over in his head for a long bit, making sure he digested and absorbed it all before he could speak again. He was right, of course. If Sasuke really wanted to spend time with him and be with him he wouldn’t mind where they went. Naruto did, though. He was scared of being a disappointment, he didn’t want to accidentally offend the guy or make him so uncomfortable they just never spoke again. Really, he shouldn’t be so worried because Kiba was right. Ultimately if the Uchiha wanted to spend time with him it wouldn’t matter where they went.

“Why are you so damn smart?” the blonde whined. “It’s not fair.”

Kiba snickered and replied, “Tell that to Kankurou, you both know I’m a goddamn idiot.” He reached over and flicked his friend gently on the nose. Naruto whined and rubbed it, sending a petulant glare his friend’s way. A kind smile was his reply, and the blonde blushed a bit and turned away. He’d never get used to the other man treating him so nicely. “Seriously man, if he cares about you it’ll be okay. You’ll have a great time and _maybe_ by tomorrow you’ll have a boyfriend.” The thought warmed Naruto’s heart. An _actual_ boyfriend. That would be amazing.

Naruto and Kiba talked a little bit longer, and before long they had a loose “gameplan” for the night in mind. The two got to work cleaning and organizing the living room in an attempt to make it look somewhat presentable before they moved to gather every blanket and pillow that was free in the house.

Kiba pulled the couch away from the wall and draped a few blankets over it, then spread that across a few of the mismatched chairs from the kitchen. Naruto made sure to keep a small entrance by the couch that faced the front door, using a smaller blanket as a makeshift door.

After the main structure was set up, they got to work fortifying the walls with some older cushions from one of their previous couches and a couple sets of heavier bedsheets. Once that was complete, they took some of the leftover bed sheets and carefully set those on top then took almost an entire container of push pins trying to adhere them to the wall across from the couch where the television and their game systems were set up. One push pin container and half a roll of tape later, the sheets no longer fell from the wall and their entertainment system was safe inside. About half the room was taken up now, with a small walkway left behind the couch so Kiba could get to and from his room.

At some point, Hinata and Shino (when the hell did they get home?) left their room to help with set up. Hinata got to work organizing the interior, filling it with the fluffiest blankets and pillows they owned and even brining out a small strand of battery operated fairy lights so it wasn’t completely dark on the inside. Shino somehow managed to materialize a few battery operated candles, most likely from the group’s emergency supply for when they occasionally lost power, and set them up nicely on the sides of the interior and entertainment system.

Naruto couldn’t help the small well of pride and elation he felt once they finally finished setting everything up. He gave his roommates the biggest, most tearful hug they’d probably ever receive before hurrying to arrange everything else. Kiba had already called Kankurou to make plans for that night and Hinata and Shino retreated back to their room so they could get ready for their own date night out.

Was it weird to ask Sasuke to come in his pajamas? The blonde stared at his phone a little nervously, contemplating the question, before typing out a quick message asking him to wear some pajamas or clothes he was okay with lounging in and pressing send. Checking that off his short mental list, Naruto grabbed his coat a little hurriedly and once again borrowed Kiba’s car so he could get to the store quicker. It was starting to get a little gloomier out, and thunder rolled softly in the distance. He hoped it wouldn’t storm before he had to pick Sasuke up, but it seemed almost inevitable at this point.

Kami was not on Naruto’s side today. Sakura had called out to him from her place at the pharmacy, embarrassingly while he had a box of condoms in his hands. He wasn’t expecting anything to happen, he needed more anyway, but being caught redhanded with them by Ino’s fucking fiancee would spell nothing but disaster for the blonde once he left the health and beauty department.

Ino followed him all around the apparel section asking what he was getting the items in his cart for. It was the usual third degree from the smaller girl, she wanted to know everything about everyone, but her questions only served to stress Naruto out even more. He’d grabbed a few extra strings of battery operated lights (it was still a little too dark inside the fort), batteries for some of the candles still at home, a few brand new plush, fluffy blankets and some nice throw pillows he felt Sasuke would appreciate, and a small mini fan in case it got a little too hot.

Naruto managed to narrowly escape revealing his plans for the night, somehow succeeding in ditching the chattier blonde in the men’s section where he grabbed some joggers and a soft looking lightweight hoodie. It may have been a little much to buy brand new clothes for a single night, but he wanted everything to be perfect and the blonde couldn’t help but be a little self conscious about the ratty old pajamas he’d had since freshman year of high school.

Finally free of apparel, Naruto perused the horror movie section in electronics, where Sai was milling about looking as blank as ever. “Hello, Naruto,” he greeted when he finally noticed the blonde. “Looking for a new movie?” Naruto nodded weakly and smiled before turning back to look at the movies. He didn’t like the way Sai was watching him so closely, but tried his best to ignore his friend’s gaze as he searched for the perfect movie.

Sasuke had mentioned his love of horror movies before, but it was hard to tell what kind he’d like. Would he like a slasher flick? Maybe some kind of supernatural thriller? Was this entire plan about to backfire?

Just as he was about to break down in the middle of his own place of work, Sai nudged Naruto and shoved a movie gracelessly into his face. “Maybe Sasuke would like to see this one,” the pale man offered. Naruto glanced at his friend before taking the DVD, examining the cover and turning it over to read the summary.

“ _It Follows?”_ he asked. The full weight of Sai’s words suddenly hit him them and he whirled around to point an accusing finger at the man. “You…! I never said anything about Sasuke…!”

“I know,” Sai responded, an odd, knowing smile on his face. “I just know you hate horror movies and have seen Sasuke over here checking this movie out before.” Naruto slumped a bit in defeat. He was right, the blonde absolutely _hated_ any scary movie and they’d essentially been banned from their household after an incident about a year previous with Naruto almost breaking Shino’s nose because he’d accidentally snuck up on him after watching _Annabelle_. 

It wasn’t like anybody else would have made the connection between Sasuke and the horror movies, but Sai wasn’t just anybody and was, unfortunately, much more perceptive than anyone really gave him credit for. Still, it was nice to get a confirmation of something the Uchiha would like to see and he thanked Sai regardless.

Once he was sure he had everything else he needed, Naruto filled the remainder of the cart with some snacks. He at least had a vague idea of the kind Sasuke liked, and grabbed a small container of cherry tomatoes for good measure. Strangely enough Naruto found himself being followed by Ino’s usual partner in crime, Deidara. The tall man had never left his scene phase, his eyes perpetually lined with the thickest winged liner anyone had ever seen and heavy creeper boots he was rumored to sleep in.

This time it seemed Naruto couldn’t escape, as Deidara seemed to know _a lot_ more than Ino did and asked _very_ pointed, revealing questions. Naruto had never been able to keep a thing from the more insistent blonde, and ended up revealing at least the fact that he and Sasuke had a date that night. It was bound to get out eventually, and the knowing smirk he got in return for his answers only seemed to confirm the fact that Deidara was aware of his plans before he’d made them himself.

Fortunately Naruto was able to leave the store in peace afterwards, checking his cart out with Konohamaru who normally only asked questions about his “super cool job” in the garage and didn’t seem to have the faintest clue what was happening in his elders’ lives. That was fine by him, he really couldn’t handle one more person asking him what was going on.

About an hour later the living room fort was completely ready and Naruto had taken a second shower and was in his brand new clothes. He glanced at himself a bit subconsciously in the mirror and prayed to whoever was out there (considering Kami had already betrayed him) before setting off to pick Sasuke up. He shot a quick text to the other man to let him know he was on the way and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. There was no going back now, everything was set up and ready anyway and it would be shitty to cancel on the Uchiha this far into the evening.

Taking one last glance around the room, Naruto was finally satisfied with the set up and smiled. He grabbed the keys to Kiba’s car again and took off toward the university campus. He made it to the dorms just as a loud clap of thunder startled him out of whatever odd nervous trance he’d been in and a few stray rain drops hit the windshield. Naruto sent another text to Sasuke, letting him know he was there and warning him about the looming downpour.

A few minutes later, he noticed Sasuke scurrying out of his building and smiled. Naruto sent one final silent prayer to anyone who might have been listening and waited. _Tonight’s gonna be great_. He told himself. He really hoped it would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all of the comments and kudos you've given so far, it really means a lot to me! I'm trying to keep my health up with school and will hopefully be able to upload consistently as the semester continues.


	9. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally time for their date. Both Naruto and Sasuke are incredibly nervous, but excited nevertheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for not uploading sooner. School unexpectedly picked up and I haven't had any time at all to write. I have a few more weeks of class and then I should be back to a normal upload schedule, but until then I'm not going to commit to anything. I am going to finish this story and will not be abandoning it.

Sasuke was nervous but excited. Itachi had been surprisingly helpful and gave him some good advice for his date and Naruto seemed to have a solid plan in mind so he expected the evening to go smoothly. He had to admit he was a little confused when he got a text asking him to wear comfier, not as nice clothes, but took it as one less thing to stress out about.

That assumption was, unsurprisingly, incredibly wrong, as it took him at least another hour and a half to figure out what he could wear. He didn’t want to look like he didn’t care, but also wasn’t sure what dressing down would really mean. His closet had been completely emptied before he started to panic and tried searching once again for an outfit that was appropriate to wear.

In the end, he had been forced to recruit a very smug-looking Itachi and his annoyed blue haired boyfriend; Sasuke really hoped he wouldn’t have to experience that again. With everything finally settled, he pulled on his comfiest joggers and a faded band tee after hopping in the shower and carefully dried and styled his hair.

Once he got the text from Naruto telling him he’d arrived, Sasuke checked and rechecked his hair in the mirror before finally leaving the dorms, his stomach twisting and turning nervously into knots. As far as he could tell from across the parking lot the blonde man had taken extra care to make sure his normally unruly mop of hair was somewhat tamed. Knowing that weirdly touched the Uchiha, as if it was a confirmation of Naruto’s own commitment to showing him he cared and was making an effort too. It was only hair after all, but he knew from the blue eyed man’s constant rants that he had never been able to get it to sit properly or cooperate in the slightest, but he’d really tried just for this.

He could make out that Naruto was waiting with a bright smile on his face but as the darker haired man approached he could tell he was nervous from the small, almost unnoticeable tremble and strain pulling at the corners of his mouth. He wasn’t really sure _why_ he did it but as soon as he got into the car, Sasuke leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his companion’s cheek.

The second he realized what he’d done, the Uchiha felt his face heat and the tips of his ears burn from embarrassment. It did ebb away, however, when the tension in the blonde’s shoulders seemed to lift almost immediately and his smile looked less forced. Sensing he’d made the right choice the shy man slumped into the passenger’s seat, feeling both relieved and excited, and watched out the window as Naruto pulled out of the dormitory parking lot.

When they pulled into Naruto’s driveway about twenty minutes later Sasuke couldn’t help but feel a bit confused. What were they doing here? Anxiety once again rushed back through his system as he ran through a few unsettling scenarios in his mind. “Um… did you forget something?” he asked cautiously. It seemed Naruto had anticipated his hesitation and laughed softly.

“No, this is where our date is tonight!” he responded brightly. Sasuke blinked at him and turned to stare out the windshield at the house. He was all at once confused and a bit let down. Maybe he hadn’t actually cared enough to plan something like he’d thought? Was Naruto really just in it for a one night stand?

Almost immediately after that thought crossed his mind, Naruto reached out and grabbed the dark haired man’s hand. With a small jolt the Uchiha turned to look up at him, his anxiety seemingly reaching its peak. Naruto himself looked completely torn between turning tail and running and actually explaining what was going on. He couldn’t stop the small pang of guilt as he watched the blonde bite his lip as he contemplated his decision.

“S-so what are we doing?” he asked suddenly, trying (and failing) not to sound too nervous.

“I was thinking… we could have a night in…?” Naruto tentatively responded. “You know, get to know each other a little better, maybe play some games or something?” Sasuke instantly relaxed in his seat and subconsciously let out a sigh of relief. When he noticed the blonde’s questioning bright blue orbs fixed on him, he waved his hand dismissively and unbuckled his seatbelt. His companion grinned and followed suit, jumping out of the driver’s seat and leading the black haired man to the front door.

Sasuke’s heart all but stopped when Naruto let him into the front room, the only light to be seen glowing softly from underneath the large cave of sheets that seemed to take up the entire living room. He tried not to show how impressed he was by the structure, but didn’t miss the small smirk Naruto had on his face, a sign he wasn’t too successful in hiding his excitement.

“A pillow fort, huh?” he said, elbowing Naruto gently in the side. “What are we, twelve?” The blonde laughed softly and grinned, grabbing his hand and interlocking their fingers.

“Say what you will, I know you secretly love it,” the blue eyed man grinned. He tugged gently on the now scowling man’s hand and laughed, leading him slowly to the fort’s makeshift door. Soon it was Sasuke’s turn to laugh as he watched Naruto crouch onto the ground and struggle to crawl through the small square hole leading into the plush hideaway. Once he was inside, Sasuke followed suit with no issues, a little lankier and in general less clumsy than the blonde before him.

Inside the structure was plush and cozy and the Uchiha felt a comfortable lull settle over him, suddenly a little sleepy and relaxed. A couple bowls of snacks were arranged on the makeshift wall opposite the doorway. Naruto was busy arranging a few of the pillows that were in the fort and stretched, gently scraping his fingers along the fabric of the ceiling.

Sasuke couldn’t help but stare at the firm, defined abdominal muscles peeking out from under the Uzumaki’s loose shirt. He felt his cheeks warm and ears burn as he watched them disappear back under the fabric once his stretching was finished, all at once embarrassed, ashamed and a little disappointed he couldn’t get more of a look. _You’re acting like you’ve never seen a man before Sasuke, get it together_. Shaking his head a bit to clear his thoughts, the darker haired man curled up against the pillows and willed his obvious blush away.

Seemingly oblivious to the Uchiha’s current state, Naruto grinned and crawled over to the side of the fort, dropping the blanket he noticed acted as the curtain-like door. Once the space was closed off to the outside world, the blonde reached over into a small plastic bag and pulled a movie case out. Sasuke squinted a bit in an attempt to read it and eventually just moved to peek over his date’s shoulder, brightening as soon as he saw the title.

“I’ve been wanting to see this for months, holy shit,” he exclaimed, excitedly plucking the case from his hands. “Have you seen this before? The premise is so fucking cool, you never told me you liked movies like this!”

Naruto laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly before responding, “Actually… i got horror movies banned from the house.” A bit taken aback by the confession, Sasuke leaned closer, his own way of prompting the other man to continue. “Uh… I’m not the best when it comes to scary movies. I almost took Shino out after we saw that creepy doll girl movie, so… yeah…”

Sasuke blinked at the man in front of him before snorting a bit and eventually descending into soft laughter. “Are you serious? What did you even do to him?” he asked, a stupid grin on his face. The blonde turned bright red and started pouting, turning away a little shyly.

“Can we just put it on and get this over with?” he asked sullenly. Sasuke snickered again and leaned even closer, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. Said sullen man immediately straightened and somehow managed to turn an even brighter red as he processed what had just happened. The Uchiha smirked and crawled over to the DVD player, popping the movie in and turning the TV on. Soft blue light flickered before settling as the older screen adjusted and started up.

As he shook himself out of his stupor, Naruto sighed and leaned back against the pillows. He was still sulking a bit but had otherwise resigned himself to his fate. After he started up the movie, Sasuke returned to his place on the pillows, careful to keep a bit of space between himself and the other. Blue eyes sought him out before he noticed him smiling and holding his arm out to him. Recognizing what he wanted, Sasuke couldn’t stop the color from once again rising to his cheeks as he moved close enough to lean against the other’s shoulder and adjust accordingly once Naruto finally put his arm around him. He sighed and subconsciously nuzzled into the other’s neck, ready to settle in for the movie.

A few minutes later, Naruto’s stomach rumbled quietly and a sheepish grin crossed his face. “I forgot to ask… do you want me to order some takeout or pizza? we have snacks yeah but that’s not exactly dinner,” the blonde offered. Not wanting to move much, Sasuke simply responded in favor of takeout and obligingly pressed himself further against the other so he could order their food. Once that was all settled, the Uchiha finally surrendered himself completely to the movie, reveling in his blue eyed companion’s warmth and comfort.

______________________________________

Naruto was not having a good time. It didn’t have anything to do with Sasuke of course, he didn’t think anything bad could ever really come from the raven haired man, but with what they were watching. He had to fight not to jump up or freak out too much. Thankfully, the weight of the Uchiha beside him did seem to calm him a lot more than he expected, and his high pitched shrieks, squeals and gasps were fewer and farther between than normal.

Halfway through the movie, there was a knock on the door. Much to Naruto’s chagrin he yelped and shrank away from the sound, sending Sasuke into another (admittedly adorable) fit of laughter. “It’s probably the food, dumbass,” he grinned, sitting up so the blonde could move freely.

Naruto muttered something along the lines of the other just not getting it and whispered conspiratorially of what if the monster’s out there and he knew about it before finally crawling awkwardly out of the fort and heading to the door. He turned a lamp on and successfully paid for and retrieved their food with little to no trouble (although he knew the guy could see how red the tips of his ears were and he had _absolutely_ heard his scream through the door). No monsters were there to get him and nobody was trying to push the monster onto him. Everything was good.

Once he’d returned back into the fort with the food, Sasuke graciously accepted his, grabbed a pair of disposable chopsticks, and dug in. Naruto was having some issues eating because he was trembling a little too much from the movie and the situation in the movie seemed to be ramping up exponentially. When the climax of the movie did end up arriving, Naruto screeched again, spilling his food all over himself and the blanket he was sitting on. Sasuke couldn’t help himself, snorting softly and chuckling as he reached over to pluck some rice from his companion’s hair.

“You really are jumpy,” the calmer Uchiha murmured. Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head a little nervously.

“Yeah… sorry,” he apologized, choosing to roll the blanket up and toss it aside to take care of later. He managed to scoop what remained of his food back into the container and ditched that by the blanket as well. Sasuke chuckled again and leaned against him, now finished with his own food.

Once the movie was over, Naruto stretched and then crawled over to the DVD player. “Wanna play anything or watch another movie?” he asked. Sasuke thought for a moment before shrugging and sitting back up.

“I don’t really mind putting something else on,” he replied. Naruto nodded and thumbed through a few movies in their absurdly organized DVD binder and finally slipped a disk from the plastic, replacing _It Follows_ with the new disk. He felt the Uchiha eyeing him from behind and smiled, starting up the disk and then crawling back to the other side of the fort.

Once the menu screen came up, Sasuke snorted again, this time trying at least a little harder to hide it but ultimately failing in such attempts. He rolled his eyes a little and leaned against the blonde again, who sighed and lazily slung his arm around his shoulders. “You’re really putting _The Aristocats_ on?” he teased. Naruto rolled his eyes and grinned in response, kissing the top of the raven haired man’s head.

He felt the tips of his ears turn red as he watched Sasuke experience a few emotions and facial expressions all at once, before he finally settled back into a more relaxed, almost happy state. The thought of kissing the smaller man had crossed his mind more than once that night, but he didn’t want to scare him. He’d been able to pick up from their previous interactions that Sasuke was wary to get close to or touch other people. Just allowing him to put his arm around him was a huge step and was probably taking a lot out of him.

A little into the movie, Sasuke nudged Naruto’s chin with his head. The blue eyed man peered down at him but didn’t say anything. Instead of saying something, the Uchiha bit his lip nervously before taking a deep breath and seemingly steeling himself for whatever he was going to say. “Thanks for doing this for me,” he finally whispered, almost too low for the other to hear.

Taking a moment to process what he said, Naruto beamed at the man before him and gently moved a stray strand of his bangs out of his face. Sasuke sighed softly and leaned into his hand, looking into his deep cerulean orbs, a silent question the blonde wasn’t sure he could answer. It became clear what his answer needed to be when the darker haired man seemed to shrink away, having taken his silence and stillness as a rejection, removing himself from any contact with him.

In a panic, Naruto reached out and gently gripped Sasuke’s hand, squeezing softly and trying to bring him closer as gently and slowly as possible. Ego already slightly bruised, the Uchiha put up only a little bit of a fight before finally meeting the other’s gaze. Naruto wasn’t sure who moved first after that, but in a moment the distance between them had all but disappeared, the slightest brush of their lips sending electric fire down the Uzumaki’s spine.

Sasuke seemed to have experienced the same exact sensation as he stared, dumbfounded, up at him. His mind already a bit hazy, Naruto leant down and kissed him again, this time with more fervor and force, a more tangible and undeniable contact that filled both men with an indescribably wonderful feeling. They separated again, not nearly as far from each other as they’d originally been, and just stared as if both were in some sort of trance. It was everything the blonde had imagined and more and finally he grinned for a second time, this time laughing softly and moving to cup the smaller man’s face in his hands. For a moment they just gazed into one another’s eyes before the spell was finally broken by Sasuke yawning.

“You tired?” Naruto asked, finding his voice to be a bit rougher then he remembered. He felt like he needed to down a glass of water but knew it wouldn’t help. “We can go to sleep if you want.” Instead of responding, the Uchiha curled up against Naruto’s side. A soft pink tinging his cheeks, he finally mumbled his affirmation and the blonde helpfully guided him onto the soft bed of blankets and cushions, curling up beside him and offering his arm once again. Without hesitation, the onyx eyed man pressed himself into the other’s side, mumbling something about sleeping with an idiot before pressing a soft kiss to his exposed collarbone. Naruto couldn’t help the shiver he felt travel throughout his body at the action and impulsively leaned down to kiss him full on the mouth.

They stayed like that for awhile, kissing and murmuring softly to one another until finally Sasuke drifted off to sleep. Naruto smiled at him, gently stroking his cheek, as he too found himself starting to doze. The two fell asleep curled around each other, their movie completely forgotten, with matching smiles and fingers carefully intertwined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and continuing to show your support. I really do appreciate it and will work hard not to disappear again.


	10. Falling Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the afterglow of their first date, Naruto and Sasuke return to work as normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back and finished with school for the semester so updating should be fairly regular now. Thank you all so much for the kind comments and for leaving kudos, it's very much appreciated and it's what motivated me to update again.

When they got to work the next morning, Sasuke could already tell everyone knew. Even Konohamaru and his friends, who normally stayed as far away from him as possible, had somehow worked up the courage to send him short, fleeting glances that screamed _we know_. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed. On the contrary he was over the moon, still riding the high of the previous night.

In all honesty Sasuke was glad the dumb blonde was all the way in the auto center, he wasn’t sure he could handle staring at him on a register for nine hours. He was currently on register 5, the tobacco aisle, so when he didn’t have a customer he was obsessively checking his phone behind the display counter trying to see if _someone_ (see: Naruto) had texted him. So far no luck.

It wasn’t like the morning had been bad. In actuality, it was really nice. Naruto had surprisingly woken up before him and was working on making breakfast when he finally did get up. He burned it, but the gesture was touching all the same. They’d eaten quietly, then slowly managed to get dressed and ready for the day.

Actually deconstructing the fort and when it needed to happen had been heavily contested throughout the morning, with Sasuke insisting he should help and Naruto arguing it could wait until later. “That way you have a reason to come back,” he’d teased on his way back to the bathroom, casually smacking him on the backside as he went. The Uchiha froze, his cheeks warming exponentially before he tossed a couple half hearted insults at Naruto’s back. Loud, boisterous laughter was his only response, and he was left to sulk in the kitchen until the blonde was ready to go.

The shrill _BEEP_ of a CSM’s palm pilot jolted him from his admittedly ill-timed reminiscing, and, with slightly warmer cheeks, he turned to glance at the counter closing the end of the register off from the public that was set up as a secondary time-clock computer station. Shikamaru was leaning by the computer, staring rather pointedly at him and tapping his temple slowly. His palm pilot went off _again_ signaling another coworker requesting his help, but he ignored it in favor of training a hard stare on the Uchiha.

“…I think you should get that,” Sasuke mumbled.

“Neji’ll get it,” was Shikamaru’s smooth reply. Sasuke glanced between the self checkout he assumed the call had come from, a light above one of the many registers glowing red. The light flickered a bit before turning green again, meaning the Nara had been correct in his call. But that didn’t explain why the other man was _staring_ at him like that.

“Do you need something else?” he asked, a small tinge of annoyance to his tone. Sasuke immediately regretted it because he _knew_ Shikamaru liked to get under his skin, and to his chagrin was faced with that obnoxious wry smirk the other was so famous for.

“I don’t have anything to say to you, Uchiha. Just zonin’ out or whatever.” That was a lie, but Sasuke wasn’t feeling up to calling him on it. Shikamaru stood to his full height again, stretching and yawning loudly, before grabbing his palm pilot and gently rapping his knuckles on the counter a couple of times before turning away. “Make sure you take care of him, alright?”

Sasuke blinked at that and watched the Nara head toward customer service to handle another call, sighing softly as. He had a feeling that was the first of many subtle (and not so subtle) threats he’d be faced with that day. To his chagrin, he found he was right.

Sakura had passed by his register no less than four times making thinly veiled threats about those who hurt her friends. Kiba had come through to grab more cigarettes at some point and simply sneered at him before turning away and heading back to the auto center.

Even Choji had given him a warning glance when they dished out his food at the deli. The Uchiha almost regretted not asking for help from Kisame, but knew the blue haired man would most likely be just as insufferable.

Speaking of insufferable, Itachi had texted him no less than four times that morning asking how his date had gone. A few winky faces and obnoxious emojis had slipped their way into the messages, and the younger man couldn’t help but cringe at their obviously incorrect usage. _The clown emoji is new_ , he thought. He decided to block his brother’s number again and simply continued going about his day.

Finally on his lunch with his potentially poisoned meal, Sasuke made his way to the back of the store and dipped out the side door to sit on he and Naruto’s stoop. Naruto wasn’t there, probably wouldn’t be since their shifts were about an hour apart in length, but that was fine. He felt like he needed a little bit of alone time to collect his thoughts.

Taking a slow drag of his juul, he considered everything that had happened the night before. Were the two of them a _thing_ now? Did this mean there would be other dates? They hadn’t really spoken about it when they woke up because they kept so busy getting ready for work, but he was sure Naruto had thought at least a _little_ about what they were. Right?

Another hit from his juul seemed to calm his frayed nerves and he took a deep, calming breath afterwards, letting the cooler autumn air fill his lungs. With another deep sigh, he pulled out his food. There’d be time to talk to him after work, he thought.

______________________________________

It had started on his lunch hour. Naruto hadn’t gone to their usual spot because he knew their breaks wouldn’t coincide, so he’d followed Kiba out to the smokers’ area and sat down with him and his friends. It was nice out, there was a comforting breeze helping to air out the area. 

Hidan and Deidara were sitting eating their food, Hidan with a cigarette in one hand and his fork in the other shoveling food into his mouth between drags. Deidara was mostly dominating the conversation, talking about this and that and what had happened that morning between a couple of the floor workers in apparel.

Naruto wasn’t paying much attention, he was trying not to gag at Hidan taking yet another drag from his cigarette while he _still_ had food in his mouth. Kankuro, who was sitting on Kiba’s other side, snickered softly before reaching across and tapping the blonde’s shoulder.

“So how’d last night go, man? You score?” he asked. Naruto promptly spat his drink out, coughing and choking a bit in surprise. Hidan cackled from across from him, dropping his cigarette and stamping it out, before reaching across the table and smacking him hard across the back.

“Chill out pipsqueak, we’re all friends here.” That could definitely be argued differently, but Naruto chose to let it go in favor of examining a suddenly interesting crack in the wood of the table. Unfortunately, when conversation ceased to resume and he looked back up, Naruto found four interested pairs of eyes boring into him.

“Look,” Naruto began, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about this without Sasuke knowing.” The others laughed and Kiba rolled his eyes a little before lighting up his own cigarette.

“Since when do you care, man? You always used to brag about the new hottie you were dating,” Kankuro snickered. “Unless it didn’t go well?”

Naruto knew he was being baited. He knew. And, looking back at it, he absolutely should have kept his mouth shut. But Kankuro knew how to get under the blonde’s skin, and knew he was easy to get a rise out of. It was all that asshole’s fault really, it’s not like Naruto could help the way he was! So when he responded with, “It went better than well actually,” he should have expected more pressing. And when he let slip that they kissed, he should have expected Deidara and Hidan to jump on it.

“So did you score, un?” Deidara asked, his lunch long forgotten by now. Naruto just grinned and shrugged, scratching his cheek a little in an effort to appear meek.

“I dunno man, I don’t think I should say,” he responded.

“He totally scored man, what kinda dumbass wouldn’t hop on stuck up Sasuke Uchiha first chance they get?” Hidan snickered. Kiba, who had remained relatively silent for the majority of the exchange, was eyeing Naruto a bit warily as the exchange continued. “Seriously, how dumb do you have to be to pass up a chance with him?”

The small group went silent for a moment as Naruto weighed his options. He could tell them the truth, admit nothing had actually happened and that they’d gone to sleep almost immediately after kissing and potentially face a few weeks to months of teasing from the white haired asshole sitting across from him.

He could also lie and say that he _had_ scored in order to earn at least a bit of Hidan’s respect and get him off his back, probably facing next to no consequence as long as Sasuke didn’t find out. Really, was it worth it to lie though? Sasuke was so hard to get close to in the first place, he didn’t want to go back to the way it was before. He couldn’t just betray his trust like that!

“Maybe he’s just embarrassed, un,” Deidara teased. “It’s hard to be proud when you know you’re just one more body to add to the count.” He and Hidan descended into raucous laughter, smacking the table and flinging their arms around each other as they continued to cackle and hoot.

“Of course I scored, who do you even think I am?”

It had just slipped out.

Naruto really hadn’t meant to say anything.

He swore didn’t mean anything by it.

Kiba choked on his drink and the laughter from across the table completely stopped. A couple of minutes of silence followed, before Hidan, the rat bastard, whistled low and slow. “Damn Uzumaki, I didn’t think you had it in you,” he said. “Great job man! Maybe you’re not the wimpy little pissant I originally thought you were.” He and Deidara stood then, clapping him on the back as they passed by, leaving Kankuro, Kiba, and Naruto alone in the smoking enclosure.

It was silent again, and this time the air was filled with a sort of tension that hadn’t previously been there. The last couple of minutes suddenly caught up to him, and, panicked, Naruto shot out of his seat. “Shit, shit, shit!” he yelled, pulling at his hair and scrubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands. 

“Hey Naruto,” Kiba began tentatively, “you and Sasuke didn’t actually have sex. Did you.” It wasn’t a question, and the brunette sounded more than a little disappointed. Kankuro seemed to have ceased finding the situation amusing in the slightest and was instead firmly gripping Kiba’s upper arm as if he was ready to hold his boyfriend back from doing something stupid.

“No, Kiba. No, we didn’t,” he murmured. The blonde felt completely numb. What had just happened? How had it happened? He knew he’d gotten a bit mad, but really, how had it spiraled this far out of his control?

“Well then why did you say you did?” Naruto didn’t respond. He didn’t know _how_ to respond. “Naruto. Why the _hell_ did you say you did?” He still didn’t respond. Instead, Naruto got up, grabbed his food, tossed it, and returned back inside. His lunch hour was almost up anyway.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Kiba wouldn’t speak to him, not that it mattered because the blonde chose to hide behind the register for the rest of his shift. Pretending to be happy to see a bunch of customers and fielding their questions helped distract him better than if he was quietly working on changing someone’s oil. Naruto’s mind normally wandered as he worked in the garage, but with the mindless repetition of working behind the counter he found it easier to cope. He didn’t know what he was gonna do if Sasuke found out. He didn’t even know if Hidan or Deidara would say anything in the first place.

He got his answer once his shift was over.

Sasuke’s shift ended an hour before the Uzumaki. He was sitting there waiting for Naruto in the employee lounge, and as the blonde slowly began to approach him he noticed _everyone_ was watching them. Naruto grinned weakly at the raven haired man and scratched the back of his neck trying to come off as sheepish or meek, and watched in horror as the Uchiha rose and met his gaze head on. Sasuke approached slowly and decisively, every step echoing softly in the quiet tension of the room. When he finally reached the other man, he stopped, charcoal eyes boring into blue.

“Hey,” Naruto choked out a bit more nervously than he should have. Sasuke scoffed quietly, glaring fiercely at the other man. “Um, so, are you wanting to get going, or-”

A loud _smack!_ resounded throughout the room and Naruto was suddenly thrown back against the wall, more surprised at the force with which he was hit. Sasuke scoffed down at him as he slid to the ground, cupping his cheek gently and staring up in shock at the other man. The fuming Uchiha left the room and didn’t look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The drama begins! Thank you all again for reading, any comments you have are appreciated!


	11. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke returns to work after taking a week to himself. Naruto wants to apologize, but isn't sure how keen on making up the Uchiha is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for uploading so sporadically, my schedule this summer hasn't been as constant as I'd like. I will be regularly updating though, so thank you so much for anyone who's stuck around and continued reading this

It felt like his first day on the job all over again. Sasuke was simply running through the motions, hanging his coat up and placing it on the large clothing rack in the center of the locker room, then haphazardly stuffed his bag into his small five by five locker, securing the lock and zipping his vest up as slowly as he could.

Today was his first day back after he and Naruto’s weird break up (could it even really be called a break up?), and he could feel the nervous tension twisting in his stomach as he took a deep breath and exited the room. He’d been gone for a week, having called in or switched shifts just so he wouldn’t have to show up and see that asshole’s face, but he’d eventually run out of call-out allowances and had to suck it up and show up. He only stopped to swipe his badge, groaning softly in mild frustration as the _Invalid Badge_ screen flashed in front of him before he tried to swipe it once again.

Once he could successfully clock in, the Uchiha crept nervously closer to the doors leading to the floor of the store. The lounge was fairly close to the auto center, he’d be able to see the blonde menace if he wasn’t working on a car already, and, unwilling to even risk it, Sasuke quickly cut behind electronics to walk to the complete opposite side of the store before finally making his way to the front end.

This time Sasuke had remembered his juul, and he nervously gripped it in his pocket as he approached the first obstacles of the day: Shikamaru and Temari. Temari was leaning casually against one of the spill station poles flicking through her palm pilot while Shikamaru seemed to be completely zoned out.

As Sasuke continued to approach, Temari glanced up, nudged the Nara, and nodded toward the paler man headed their way. At this display Sasuke tensed, and he almost froze. He skipped a short step but kept walking as if nothing had happened. In reality it felt like his entire world was threatening to crash down around him, he felt like a cornered animal and was fully prepared to sprint away at any moment. Shikamaru was one of Naruto’s best friends and Temari was Shikamaru’s best friend, if the taller man asked her to he was sure she’d beat the shit out of him. He continued his quiet approach, his steps clicking softly against the dirty tile floor, each step seeming to sink him deeper and deeper into anxiety.

“Uchiha,” Shikamaru called before he’d actually managed to reach the two managers.

“Um… yeah?” Sasuke responded. He waited for the inevitable ass chewing as he finally settled into place standing beside Temari.

“Could you cover the service desk for Izumo’s break? Kotetsu called in,” the Nara asked, glancing over Temari at her palm pilot. The blonde girl rolled her eyes and pulled it out of his view, gesturing to the pocket of the lazier man’s vest as if to say “you have your own, fucker.”

For a moment Sasuke was still. His shoulders were stiff and his legs didn’t seem to have enough power to actually move him. After a subtle, almost completely unnoticeable sympathetic glance from Temari, he realized they were giving him an out. They wouldn’t say anything to him if he didn’t want them to. They were going to wait for him to breach the topic. He sighed softly and allowed the tension to slowly leave his body as he nodded and started toward customer service.

“I’m here for your lunch,” Sasuke announced as he walked past Izumo to log onto the second register behind the service counter. Izumo grunted his acknowledgement and continued to fiddle with the packaging of a box of opened gopher gassers. There were supposed to be six of the long firecracker-like tubes, but only four were actually in the package and of those four three had lost their fuses. “You want help with that?” he asked. Izumo grunted again, stared at the package, took a look at Sasuke, sighed and nodded.

“This shit won’t close up again and I can’t just send an open box of these to claims,” he replied, moving to the side as Sasuke took over. The Uchiha grabbed the stapler and used it on each of the corners of the small packaging before taping up the gaps on the sides. It wouldn’t be opening anytime soon. Izumo sighed with relief and clapped the darker haired man on the back, nodding appreciatively at him and tossing the offending item into the claims bin. “Thanks for that, I thought I’d never get it closed.” A shrug was the older man’s response, but he was too busy signing out of his register to notice.

“By the way, heard about your little scrap with Naruto,” Izumo announced. Sasuke froze. He hadn’t expected someone as detached from Naruto’s group of friends to really know or care about the situation. Then again, Konoha Korner wasn’t famous for its employees’ ability to keep secrets. Gossip traveled fast here, it was no wonder he already knew about it even if he had no idea who the fuck Sasuke was. “Is it true you cried after you hit him?” Onyx eyes narrowed and he folded his arms across his chest in annoyance.

“Who’s been saying that? All I did was smack him and leave,” he growled. Seemingly sensing the sudden tension in the younger’s voice, Izumo turned to him with an arched brow.

“That’s not what Hidan said,” he responded. Hidan. Just hearing that asshole’s name made his blood boil. He’d found out from Itachi after the fact that it was Deidara and Hidan who’d managed to rile Naruto up. His brother told him he’d have a talk with them, but all Sasuke really wanted to do was throttle the both of them, especially when he passed by money services and caught sight of the white haired man’s obnoxious shit eating grin.

“ _Hidan_ ,” Sasuke hissed, trying to push as much venom as he could into his words, “is a lying bastard and I’d hope you were smart enough to think critically about the situation before believing anything he says.” Izumo blinked and then shrugged, moving to the terminal at the end of the service desk so he could clock out for his meal.

“Whatever man, didn’t mean to hit a nerve,” was his noncommittal reply. Sasuke turned away then, focusing instead on getting some loose go-backs ready to be sent to claims instead. He’d known he was probably going to have a few people try to approach him about what happened, he’d prepared for it before walking through the front doors. He just hadn’t expected fucking _Izumo_ to be the one to actually say something.

The older brunette waved briefly before heading out of customer service, and Sasuke was set to be alone for the next hour kami permitting.

______________________________________

A week. Naruto hadn’t heard from or seen Sasuke for an entire week. Of course, he really hadn’t expected to after what he’d pulled. He still didn’t know how the darker haired man had found out, and it pained him to know he hadn’t been the one to tell the other and at least try to explain what happened. What he’d done was inexcusable, he knew, and he’d gotten himself into situations like this before because he could be easy to work up, but never before had he hurt a potential significant other in that way.

The look of hurt and betrayal in those burning coal colored eyes still haunted the Uzumaki in his sleep. Regret was slowly sinking into his bones until it finally settled in as a constant pain in his stomach. Kiba wouldn’t look at him, partially because he’d witnessed the interaction and partially because he’d felt guilty for just sitting there and allowing it to happen.

Sakura and Ino were pissed. They’d tried everything they could to get a hold of Sasuke just to make sure he was okay and nobody could get ahold of him. Shikamaru, as much as he didn’t want to, had even gone to his dorm to see if he could talk to the guy, but he’d just had the door slammed in his face as soon as Sasuke had seen him.

Sasuke wasn’t coming to work either. He’d simply request to swap shifts with someone or call in the day before his shift if he couldn’t get someone to cover. Naruto wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to go on like this, he desperately wanted to fix everything, he could’t go back to square one.

And that’s where he’d landed himself, wasn’t it? Just like their first introduction all those months ago, Naruto had shoved his foot right into his mouth and said something stupid. He wasn’t sure how he’d be able to fix it or even if he could, but he had to at least try. Right?

He got his chance during his lunch. Sasuke was at the customer service desk looking bored and pretending to sort through the go-backs. There were fairly moderate sized lines and the self checkouts were a tiny bit backed up, so Naruto decided it would make sense to try to get his lunch checked out at the service desk. He’d seen Sakura do it before, almost all of the other pharmacy associates did it too, so why couldn’t he?

Trying to flash his brightest smile at Sasuke as (hopefully) a friendly warning of his intention, he started the short walk toward the service desk. He noticed the Uchiha stiffen slightly, turn to his register and key something in, but Naruto didn’t really put much stock into it as he started his approach. This was great! Here he could talk to the other man privately and apologize! It was fool proof!

That confidence was shattered, however, when he noticed Neji making his way to the service desk as well, the shrill _beep!_ of his palm pilot betraying what had just occurred. Naruto’s steps slowed for only a moment but it was enough for Sasuke to notice. Neji and Naruto reached customer service at the same time, the longer haired man raising a brow at the blonde before moving to stand beside Sasuke. The Uzumaki started handing over his food in defeat.

“What did you need?” he asked. Sasuke shrugged and started to casually began ringing Naruto’s lunch up, wordlessly grabbing a bag and stuffing his food carelessly inside.

“I just wanted to know if I’m staying up here once Izumo gets back,” the onyx eyed man responded, a smug lilt to his voice as he leveled Naruto with one of his fiercest glares, “That’s $6.48.” Neji huffed a bit and went to tapping away at his palm pilot as Naruto awkwardly went to swipe his card.

“Yes, it seems you’ll be staying up here with him,” Neji announced, “We’re expecting to get busier with the incoming weather. Was there anything else you needed?” Sasuke shot Naruto one last Look before tossing his receipt in the bag and practically throwing it at the other man.

“I need to use the restroom, you cool with me going real quick?” With a small, exasperated sigh, Neji nodded and allowed the Uchiha to leave customer service. He turned his pale gaze to the dejected man in front of him and snorted softly once Sasuke was out of sight.

“Did you really think cornering him and forcing him to speak to you like some caged animal would work?” the long haired man snapped. Naruto flinched a bit and felt his cheeks warm in embarrassment. “You two are wasting my time, _both_ of you. Either accept the fact he’s not going to speak with you anytime soon and move on or talk to him when he _isn’t_ trapped behind a counter.” 

It stung, but he was right, and Naruto was aware of that. He nodded and made sure everything was accounted for in his bag before turning to head back to what used to be their spot. On the way out he spotted Sasuke leaving the bathroom. The tension he’d been holding in his shoulders throughout their interaction seemingly disappeared as he noticed the service desk void of the blonde man’s presence. Naruto felt an extra pang of guilt stab at his chest. Neji _had_ been right. What seemed like an innocent, well thought out plan had backfired on him because he once again hadn’t considered the other man’s feelings.

Rather than go out outside and reminisce in their old spot, Naruto elected to head to the break room. Sakura was there, chatting softly with Sai and Shikamaru. The blonde tried not to look too eager as he was finally able to sit and talk with his friends, but the cold indifference he was met with as he took his seat made him almost wish he’d gone outside.

“You really thought you could just force him into listening?” Sakura suddenly snapped. Naruto winced and tried to busy himself with his lunch, squirming under the scrutiny of his friends.

“That plan was a bust, huh?” Sai chuckled, flashing him his signature customer service grin. It would almost be insulting if he hadn’t rightfully earned the ire of his friends for what he’d done.

“How do you guys even know about it?” the blonde grumbled. He took a bite out of his food and made a face when it didn’t taste as good as he’d expected. Shikamaru held up his phone, an uncomfortable indicator that he and Neji were in fact close friends and Sasuke’s managers. Embarrassment and anger began to burn deep in the pit of his stomach as he ate, refusing to acknowledge his friends or even entertain the thought of starting a new conversation.

Eventually the others’ breaks ended and he was left alone to his thoughts. He had to figure something out, but what? What could he possibly do to win Sasuke back, especially after he’d screwed up a second time, and so soon? Sighing softly, he rubbed his temples and tried to think of a plan. Nothing came to mind and he decided planning ahead wouldn’t help him anyway as he rose from his seat and tossed his food in the trash.

As Naruto started to head back to the auto center to clock in, an idea suddenly came to him. He kicked himself for not thinking of it earlier, but then again he was sure the Uchiha had done everything he could to prevent something like it from happening. Still, he thought it was worth a chance and typed out a hasty text asking him if they could talk alone sometime and that Sasuke could set the time, place, and day. His nerves were fried by the end of it, and on the fifth draft he decided the text was perfect. This way, Sasuke could decide when and if he would answer and Naruto could find out if it was really over or not.

Of course even if the Uchiha agreed to speak with him he didn’t expect reconciliation. He’d hurt the man enough, and he didn’t want to have any idea of what should go down during that conversation should it happen, especially because there was such a high chance of fucking it up again. Naruto got back to work after sending the text and sighed. He felt all of his worry and the tension of the last hour and a half leave him as he got back into the groove of the day.

A couple of hours later when he was walking back to the break room to take his last break, Naruto was a little confused to see he’d gotten a message. It was surprising to say the least, as all of his friends were freezing him out either because they were mad at him or wanted him to find his way out of the hole he’d dug himself into on his own. His confusion melted into quiet contentment when he realized the text was a response from Sasuke.

Sasuke was agreeing to meet. The day he wanted was at least another week away but that was fine with him. Naruto could wait. He shot off a confirmation and smiled to himself as he plopped down in the corner of the break room. He could wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, kudos and comments are appreciated! I may not respond but I read every single one and appreciate every one of you!


	12. Tentative Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto prepares to speak with Sasuke, a task he finds is a lot more difficult than originally expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your support! I finally have a set outline for the next few chapters and a projected plan for this fic! Kudos and comments are always loved and appreciated, thank you for sticking this out with me! This chapter will be specifically Naruto's POV, meaning the next chapter will only be from Sasuke's.

Naruto eventually found out through Sakura and Ino that Sasuke actually had a reputation on campus for supposedly sleeping with any man he came across, but they were sure it had been manufactured by one of his exes in a prominent frat on campus after the Uchiha had rejected him almost immediately at a party their freshman year. As a senior, the rumors and Sasuke’s subsequent poor reputation had only begun to snowball and most of his honest attempts at a relationship had either ended in public embarrassment or someone (usually the other guy) ending up in the hospital after trying to go a little too far.

Naturally, Naruto wanted to track the guy down and give him a piece of his mind until he remembered he’d helped contribute to that rumor. Deidara and Hidan lived on campus, after all, and the news of Sasuke slapping his coworker while at work after they’d gone out the night before had only stirred up more of a controversy. It was stupid and completely unnecessary (seriously, a three year long feud?), but Sakura told him that’s just how some of the people on campus were, _especially_ the influential young men who’d yet to experience the actual world or any tangible form of the word “no.” She was, of course, playing the situation down so Naruto wouldn’t be as angry, and he knew that, but he really couldn’t do much. He knew his friends would handle what they could and call him in when they really needed it.

It turned out waiting was much harder for Naruto than he originally thought, especially after learning this fact. Everytime he’d see Sasuke working the tobacco register or milling about in the self check area he’d have to fight off the urge to approach, opting instead to watch the raven haired man from afar until someone, usually Shikamaru, pointed out he was staring. He’d always apologize and laugh it off, but felt the guilt and nerves continue to gnaw at his insides.

He really wanted to say something, anything to alleviate the stress of what the Uchiha was surely going through. His presence at work must have been making the other man uncomfortable, and then having to face that kind of shit when he got back to school would’ve been unbearable.

When the week was finally up, Naruto heard his phone _ping_ softly, the screen name “Sasuke” flashing briefly across the screen. The blonde didn’t want to admit how secretly excited he was that the Uchiha was finally reaching out, but he couldn’t help it. He’d missed the onyx eyed man more than he could ever put into words. _I swear I won’t mess things up this time!_ He promised himself as he clicked to open the message.

**Sasuke: Meet me at Ichiraku tomorrow when they open for dinner. Don’t expect anything.**

Naruto beamed at his phone and punched the air in excitement. Was it too much to whoop? Well, it was too late, he was already whooping with joy. He could hear Kiba yell something from the living room, probably ordering the blonde to keep it down, but he really couldn’t contain himself! He was going to see Sasuke again! He could finally get everything out in the open and properly apologize. The last part of his message was a bit worrying, but he was sure he could turn the situation around! Right?

The next day, Naruto pulled up to Ichiraku after an almost unbearable shift in which his nerves continued to fray and the anxious energy he’d kept pent up for over a week threatened to spill out and overflow. What if Sasuke stood him up? Surely he wouldn’t, he had never been particularly flakey, but wouldn’t it be the sweetest revenge to do so? The blonde shook his head and huffed a bit, feeling himself begin to pout. _Seriously, you’re in your twenties, nobody pulls that shit anymore_.

Why was he so concerned about the idea of Sasuke hypothetically needing or wanting to avenge himself after what happened anyway? If he needed to scream at him, he’d let him scream and listen with a smile. If he slapped him again, he’d let him slap the other as a sign of good faith. Seriously, he cared so much about Sasuke no matter how much he seemed to hate him, why was he working himself up so much? _Probably because you’re in love with him but whatever_. Naruto chose to ignore _that_ particular thought process and instead stepped out of his car when he noticed Sasuke coming up the sidewalk from the direction of the university.

He knew Sasuke had noticed him, knew the other man was probably just as nervous as he was to be here, but he couldn’t help but admire the way the late afternoon sun seemed to outline the Uchiha in soft, golden light. Naruto had to force himself to look away and follow the silent man inside lest he say something stupid again.

The two chose a small table in the back corner, away from the hustle of the main ramen bar and the potentially wandering eyes and ears of Teuchi and Ayame. Naruto knew they’d been a little concerned, especially after the last week of moping around the shop whenever he had a free moment. After ordering and receiving their ramen, Sasuke began to silently eat, leaving a rather bewildered Naruto to watch him carefully. If anyone looked at them, they’d surely think the two were simply two young men out for a peaceful ramen dinner.

The blonde couldn’t bring himself to eat, settling on watching the other take small bites of his own noodles. He felt the sudden urge to throw up, his stomach clenching and twisting in knots, when Sasuke finally set (more like slammed) his chopsticks on the table to stare deep into Naruto’s eyes. He was looking for something, the blonde knew, but he couldn’t keep himself from squirming under the sudden eye contact. All at once the Uzumaki found it nearly impossible to speak, preferring to clear his throat and look anywhere _but_ smoldering charcoal orbs.

“So…,” Naruto started, desperately wishing they’d chosen a seat by the bar so he’d at least have a semblance of an excuse to hide how nervous he really was.

“So,” was the clipped reply from his tablemate. _Guess it’s up to me_.

“I’m, uh… Really sorry about how that went down,” the blonde said. Sasuke raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak, a silent prompt for Naruto to continue. “I don’t even know why I said what I did, it just… came out. I’m kinda stupid like that sometimes, Hidan and the others are _really_ good at riling me up.”

Sasuke scoffed a bit but took his eyes off the other man in favor of continuing to eat. Naruto relaxed only a bit and tried to keep the idea that maybe this wasn’t totally over threatening to boil up from within and overtake his more rational side. This was serious. It was time to be serious. “Seriously, I had so much fun with you and for me to just… throw it away like that, and for what? Brownie points with _Hidan?_ I don’t even like that guy!” He could feel his personality slowly beginning to resurface, most of his nerves already gone and dealt with.

“It was so stupid, man. And you’re just… so pretty? And cool? Like, I was still in shock that you’d even want to date me! Of course that’s not an excuse, what I did was majorly fucked, like who even does that? The last time I even heard of something like that happening was in high school! _High school!_ I’m twenty-three!” He was surprised by the small chuckle he received after his small tirade but felt the final remnants of his nerves begin to fade away. There was still a bit of an awkward tenseness to the Uchiha’ shoulders, but he didn’t seem to be necessarily upset anymore.

“It was pretty high school, huh,” Sasuke murmured, a small smile on his face.

“Totally, dude! It was ridiculous, like what the hell is up with me? And Hidan’s even older than me!” Naruto laughed boisterously and finally began to dig into his ramen. This was nice. It felt right. The small frown now marring Sasuke’s features brought the majority of his nerves screeching back. He choked a bit when he saw the raven haired man set his chopsticks down once again and give him a once over.

“I can’t trust you,” the Uchiha announced. Naruto’s world suddenly came crashing down around him. What did he mean? After what he said? Why? Was it really that bad, had he really fucked up that much?

“I can’t trust you,” Sasuke repeated, “but I miss you. If I have to listen to Sakura talk about how awful and stupid you are for what you did to me, I’m gonna fucking lose it.” He chuckled a bit, a soft, gentle smile belying his aggressive tone. “I’m not… ready to date you or go out with you again. And… I probably won’t be for awhile. What you said, even if it _was_ just some stupid high school bullshit, really fucked me up. I just.. I wanted you to know that.” The Uchiha didn’t seem to know where he was going next.

Any preprepared conversation died as soon as he actually verbalized the fact he didn’t want to be with Naruto. It stung, it really did, but seeing Sasuke struggle to find something, _anything_ to say to him after that, hurt him even more. With a great sigh and more than a little bit of internal panic, Naruto extended his hand across the table. Sasuke stopped what he was doing, shutting his mouth with a quiet _clack_ , and stared, a bit bewildered, at the hand in front of him.

“I’m Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. It’s nice to meet you,” the blonde said, doing his best to show the other man his best smile.

Sasuke seemed to catch on and his shoulders slumped a bit, a relieved but still small smile on his face. He hesitantly took the hand, his smile forming into a smirk, and replied, “Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha.”

The rest of their dinner was fairly calm and went surprisingly well. Sasuke and Naruto settled back into a rhythm, shooting snarky insults at one another and swapping stories of the past work week.

Hidan had mysteriously been kicked out of the house after what happened with the windows now all tightly locked and double reinforced and the doors’ locks changing every other day. He and Deidara had also apparently been threatened by an incredibly angry Itachi, who, according to Sasuke, had only been _actually_ dangerously mad about three times in his short lifetime. Kiba and Kankuro had gotten into a fight about what brand of foundation had the best coverage for tattoos (Sasuke laughed a bit at their final decision but didn’t respond when Naruto questioned him), and Sakura was almost finished earning her Pharmacy Tech Certification. It was nice to catch up and act like everything (mostly everything) was back to normal.

At the end of the night, Naruto dropped Sasuke off at his dorm and returned home with a goofy grin on his face. Sure he didn’t have a boyfriend or even potential boyfriend anymore, but they’d been able to start fresh and he could finally say he’d won his best friend back. That night, Naruto slept peacefully. The promise of seeing Sasuke the next day at work brought a smile to his face.

But Sasuke wasn’t there the next day. He actually wasn’t there the entire next week. Something was up, and nobody knew what was going on. Sasuke wasn’t answering anyone’s texts or calls _again_ and the CSMs who would normally just say something like “oh he got fired” or “he quit” were being less than open about what was going on _._ How many times was the guy gonna just drop off the face of the earth?

One week turned into two, then three, and finally enough was enough. Naruto was panicking and had to ask someone, anyone what the hell was going on. Sakura and Ino seemed to agree and, after some discussion, decided to ask (see: interrogate) Shikamaru about what had happened to their beloved Uchiha. Ino cornered him by the break room, caging him in using her body and the vending machine while Sakura and Naruto tried to wear him down.

At last it seemed they’d gotten through to him, and he heaved the longest, loudest sigh the three had probably ever heard before announcing, “We weren’t supposed to talk about it. Sasuke’s on a leave of absence.” He seemed to think that was enough explanation and was more than a little perturbed when Ino jammed him in the ribs with her fingers.

“Spill it Nara,” she growled.

“Alright alright, woman! Damn!” Shikamaru batted her away until he was able to properly stand and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Sasuke’s on an extended leave of absence because he’s a witness for a huge trial that’s coming up.” When Ino and Sakura gestured for more, the increasingly annoyed Nara muttered about useless prodding and rolled his eyes. “You’ll know it when you see it, it’s fucking huge man. I’m really not supposed to talk about it, fuck.” He shouldered his way past his friends in a huff and stalked away, presumably back to the front end. His coworkers watched him go in silence as their individual panic began to set in. Sasuke was gone.

Sasuke was _gone_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As some of you may have noticed I changed the rating of the fic just to be safe. The next couple of chapters aren't going to be explicitly describing anything, but I wanted to be safe because it will cover the Uchiha massacre and some deeper subjects. Thank you again for reading and sticking it out with me!


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